Pale Waves Embrace Their 'Chic' Side

By Carson Mlnarik


Pale Waves have never been better. The English indie-rock musical group are spending their summer initial up for 5 Seconds of Summer on their North American tour and putting the finishing touches on their rather anticipated third album, Unwanted. Frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie has officially traded in her dark locks for a bleach-blonde bob, setting the tone for their new record of breakneck pop-punk ahead of its August 12 release. All things believed, it’s ironic that their latest single “Reasons to Live,” an euphoric, arena-ready love song, was inspired by one of her darkest moments. “I was lost. I didn’t even know if I wanted to do music anymore,” Baron-Gracie tells MTV News. “Then my partner Kelsey came into my life and just totally changed that and gave me a whole different view on life, and thankfully, saved me in a way.”


Over pounding drums, crunchy guitars, and soaring belt notes, Baron-Gracie has her “Hayley Williams moment” singing about finding someone who “showed me how to love myself a little bit more.” “I hope that a lot of people can relate to this song and I hope a lot of people find their Kelsey,” she says. Written alongside Pale Waves drummer Ciara Doran and producer Zakk Cervini, “Reasons to Live” might be an optimistic and romantic track in the same vein as past singles like “Easy,” yet Baron-Gracie calls it an outlier on what is otherwise a very “intense” record. “I feel like in general this album in particular touches upon subjects that we’ve never touched upon before, like loss, vanity, anger, jealousy, hopelessness,” she says. “It’s very dark. It’s very personal.”


The result is an assortment of infectious ear worms — rounded out by performances from guitarist Hugo Silvani and bassist Charlie Wood — that lean totally into the group’s harder rock influences like Hole, Avril Lavigne, and Paramore. Trading in synths for throbbing basslines, chunky guitars, and cranking the volume up to 11, the heavy instrumentation is the best complement to the darker subject matter. There’s no love lost on lead single “Lies,” an ear-splitting and biting dis track evoking hissing guitars in the name of karma. Meanwhile, the title track is identically deceptive as jubilant production underscores lyrics about an all-consuming anxiety that comes with feeling worthless.


“It couldn’t be called anything else,” Baron-Gracie says of the album’s title. “The piece was missing up until that song was finished.” The rawness extends into her efficiency, as she notes that most of the new record’s vocal tracks came from early sessions with Cervini any time the emotions were fresh. “I feel like any time whenever you do demos for the vocals, there’s a magic within them that you can’t replace,” she explains.


Crafting a followup to 2021’s Who Am I?, which debuted at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and garnered key praise, sounds like a tall group. Yet Baron-Gracie speaks with an air of calmness and peace as she specifics its intimate songwriting process. “[It] was the initial time where I felt relaxed, in a state of not panicking or a state of not second-guessing everything,” she says. Written with a close categorize of collaborators in Los Angeles while in the last few months of 2021, the “guarded” environment allowed for a creative flow unlike anything Baron-Gracie experienced in the past, especially immediately following the stress of recording and releasing their sophomore album at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It just in general feels very organic for us and consistent,” she says. “We just didn’t picture it also much, and I think that really made the album what it is. It speaks for itself.”


The upcoming album’s visuals showcase a “complete opposite” side of the musical group than they revealed in the nostalgic, Britpop-inspired clips for Who Am I? “For the second album, it was very ’90s, casual, baggy clothes, whereas I wanted to fully shift it up,” Baron-Gracie explains. “This next campaign is very glamorous, very chic, very expensive.” In addition to the jagged lighting, dark hues, and glam-goth looks of their “Lies” music video, the sort has also proposed a treatment for yet-to-be released track “Jealousy,” a fan-favorite that they debuted on tour earlier this year. “[It’s] one of my main go to videos that we’ve ever done,” Baron-Gracie says. “It would be like a Helmet Lang or Calvin Klein advert.”


Fans can expect to hear new tracks from Unwanted and also a handful of old favorites because the categorize accompanies 5SOS for their Take My Hand World Tour. As a musical group that noticed its footing touring for five years straight before COVID protocols shuttered live music, Baron-Gracie says Pale Waves are more than willing to return. “We love being on stage,” she says. “I think that’s where we all come alive, all four of us.” There’s something unique about the atmosphere Baron-Gracie, Doran, Silvani, and Wood create at their shows – one where weaknesses are embraced, members of the LGBTQ+ community can love with their whole hearts, and misfits have a home.


additionally to Doran, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, Baron-Gracie came out in 2018 and started embracing her sexuality on their sophomore album. The answer at concerts to her most intimate love songs — namely “She’s My Religion” — has been “insane.” Baron-Gracie recalls seeing a tweet about a fan who lit up and burst into tears upon hearing it live. “It’s just so sweet to look out into the audience and visualize couples embracing and screaming it to one another,” she says.


It’s no surprise the categorize has noticed a community at a time any time pop-punk has saw an astounding resurgence, as we look for emotional honesty, an outlet for angst, and then some blaring guitars in our playlists. “I’m living for it, honestly,” Baron-Gracie says.