The singer-songwriter, 17, released the edgy, alternative-pop song and its accompanying music video at midnight on Friday, March 5, via Columbia Records.

“It’s about someone facing the truth about Hollywood, going through that process and realizing that they’re in too deep,” VanderWaal said in a statement. “It feels really good to express yourself so freely. It’s empowering and very healing.”

In the retro-inspired video, the America’s Got Talent season 11 winner swaps out her signature ukulele for a bass guitar and shows off her newly shaved head, which recently made her go viral on TikTok.

“I am very smart, and I usually know what things are going to make people talk or grasp attention, but that I didn’t expect in the slightest,” she told Nylon in an interview published on Thursday, March 4. “I realized the world is so much more sexist than I thought. People jump to mad conclusions for a woman having short hair, like ‘[she’s having a] mental breakdown or on drugs.’ What does that say about us?”

That said, the social media trolls’ commentary “exhilarated” VanderWaal, who told the magazine, “Lately, I don’t know what’s going on in my brain or what happened to me, but all of a sudden, I like to make people uncomfortable, and I want people to ask themselves why they’re uncomfortable with whatever I’m doing. I actually think that’s why I really like punk music; they’re doing things to make people uncomfortable. I want this whole project to just be about just completely unapologetic self-expression. If you’re uncomfortable, screw you. That’s your own s–t to work through.”

In addition to having more music in the works, the young star is gearing up to star in the upcoming sequel to her first movie, Stargirl, which premiered on Disney+ in 2020.

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Nicholas Hautman