Blondshell – Heart Has To Work So Hard
I’ll be honest: I wasn’t sure what to expect from Blondshell this soon. If You Asked For A Picture came out last year, followed by a companion record, Another Picture, featuring Conor Oberst, Samia, Folk Bitch Trio, and others. That felt like a complete statement. But here we are, less than a year later, and Sabrina Teitelbaum is already moving on to album three. “Heart Has to Work So Hard” is out now via Partisan Records, the first preview of whatever comes next, with no title or release date confirmed yet.
Produced by Yves Rothman, the track opens with drums and bass locked in a driving pulse before layers of static-laden, arpeggiated guitars build around it. Teitelbaum’s cool monotone holds steady through the verses, which makes the chorus hit harder by contrast. The soft-loud dynamic is familiar Blondshell territory, but the momentum here feels more urgent than anything on If You Asked For A Picture. The track made its live debut at Coachella last month, which is also where the “Scaring Strangers Tour” name comes from: it’s a line straight out of this song.
What got me is how specific the subject matter is. Teitelbaum says it directly: “This song is really about friendship and betrayal, getting stuck in a dynamic and letting things fester. No one trains you for the ups and downs of a friendship between two women, but it’s also about a love so enduring that you find compassion no matter what.” That keeps it from landing as a generic breakup track. It’s grittier and more precise than that, and the production earns it.
The accompanying tour is her biggest headline run yet. North American dates kick off October 14 in San Diego, with a European leg running through December. London’s Roundhouse on December 15 will be her largest UK headline show to date.
Tour Dates:
North America:
- Jun 14 — Manchester, TN — Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
- Jul 02 — Milwaukee, WI — Summerfest
- Aug 08 — Omaha, NE — Maha Festival
- Oct 14 — San Diego, CA — Observatory North Park (w/ Starcleaner Reunion)
- Oct 16 — Los Angeles, CA — The Wiltern (w/ Starcleaner Reunion, Bully)
- Oct 17 — San Francisco, CA — Castro Theatre (w/ Starcleaner Reunion)
- Oct 19 — Portland, OR — Crystal Ballroom (w/ Starcleaner Reunion)
- Oct 20 — Seattle, WA — Showbox SoDo (w/ Starcleaner Reunion)
- Oct 23 — Minneapolis, MN — Varsity (w/ Prewn)
- Oct 24 — Chicago, IL — Vic Theater (w/ Prewn)
- Oct 27 — Toronto, ON — Danforth Music Hall (w/ Prewn)
- Oct 28 — Montreal, QC — Beanfield Theatre (w/ Prewn)
- Oct 31 — Philadelphia, PA — Union Transfer (w/ Prewn)
- Nov 03 — Washington, DC — 9:30 Club (w/ Prewn)
- Nov 06 — New York, NY — Terminal 5 (w/ Prewn, NoSo)
- Nov 07 — Boston, MA — House of Blues (w/ Prewn)
Europe:
- Dec 06 — Amsterdam, Netherlands — Melkweg (w/ TTSSFU)
- Dec 07 — Berlin, Germany — Metropol (w/ TTSSFU)
- Dec 08 — Brussels, Belgium — Ancienne Belgique (w/ TTSSFU)
- Dec 10 — Paris, France — La Gaité Lyrique (w/ TTSSFU)
- Dec 12 — Manchester, UK — O2 Ritz (w/ TTSSFU)
- Dec 13 — Glasgow, UK — The Old Fruitmarket (w/ TTSSFU)
- Dec 15 — London, UK — Roundhouse (w/ TTSSFU)
- Dec 17 — Dublin, Ireland — The Academy (w/ Theatre)
