Brisbane's Paulina let's her new groove pop single, 'Parasite' creep in to your ears

Brisbane’s Paulina follows up on her critically-praised single, ‘Lonely Drives’ with her new cut, ‘Parasite’’ a super slick, morphing groove pop single produced by Toby Hobart

‘Parasite’ suckers you in with sweet vocals of Paulina, soft acoustic guitar, and slight haunting synths, and then flips sideways, transforming in to fat bass-driven groove pop number, with creepy crawly pads sliding in and out to sonically represent the metaphorical, titular bug.

Earthy percussion hits and reverberating guitar riffs help build the fervour and anticipation towards the finale, ending delicately with an array of ethereal vocal harmonies.

Paulina talks about the meaning behind ‘Parasite’:

“At its core it’s about being treated like a parasite by a partner. Having someone treat you so disrespectfully and disgustingly can destroy someone’s self-worth and self-love. So, instead of continuing to be a victim of such awful treatment and the pain that comes with it, this song shows that you can in fact do yourself a huge favour and leave toxic relationships. You don’t have to and shouldn’t love someone who treats you so badly, because you are so much more than that. If anything, they’re the parasite!!”

The release is accompanied by a stunning music video, directed by Matt Pettigrew from Slate Media (Cosmo's Midnight, Mallrat, Spacey Jane). The visually striking clip uses awe-inspiring colours as Paulina takes on the character of someone being mistreated. “As the music video progresses, my makeup becomes a bit more smudged as I begin to cry. This accentuates the truly sad, and upsetting feeling portrayed subtly throughout the song,” she explains. “In the studio, we used a 20ft square soft box grid, that allowed full range of the colour spectrum, to create a bold, yet soft colour scheme in the music video,” she adds.

Born in Germany and raised in Queensland, Paulina is quickly showing her capability to write uniquely emotive songs, capturing the true essence of her songwriting subjects in her purest performances, taking cues from luminaires Jorja Smith and Amy Shark.

‘Parasite’ is out now and streaming on all digital platforms.