In late February, Cigarettes After Sex announced their new LP, titled X's (due 7/12), alongside their upcoming world tour, which features shows at some of the globe's most iconic venues, like Madison Square Garden and London's O2 Arena, with more Korean, Indian, Taiwan and South American dates to be announced at a later date.
Today, they share the third single from their forthcoming album, entitled "Baby Blue Movie." The track takes Cigs’ signature ethereal guitar melodies and slow-burn atmosphere and turns it into the closest thing to a full-on pop banger the band has ever released. Bandleader Greg Gonzalez commented on the track, saying, "A "blue movie" is a term for a porn movie & so “baby blue movie” is a reference to softcore porn. I heard the title years ago & it felt really striking to me. The story of the song is intentionally meant to be more cryptic storytelling wise than the lyrics I usually write. I like the idea of leaving the listener to decide what this one could be about…"
The title, a reference to softcore adult films, is in direct contrast with the dreamy and romantic soundscape. While the lyrics reference sex and smutty desires, the feel of the music is more akin to a companion's embrace. Scintillating whispers of love, sensuality, and mystery leave the listener to draw their own conclusions about what the song means to them.
Since the release of “Tejano Blue,” with the announcement of X’s and the corresponding global arena tour, Cigarettes After Sex have racked up over 30M plays on the single, which was featured on 43 Spotify New Music Friday playlists, alongside a digital billboard in Times Square. They are currently the #249 most-streamed artist in the world on the platform, with over 25M monthly listeners. The tour – which includes venues like Madison Square Garden, The Forum, the o2 Arena and more – is off to a tremendous start with sellouts in London, Warsaw, Sydney, Athens, Brussels, Lyon, Cape Town. In the states, dates in San Diego, Orlando, New York City and both nights in LA have sold out. Over 400k tickets have been sold internationally thus far and demand saw them adding extra shows in LA, London, Athens, Melbourne, and Sydney. The news spread quickly, with writeups in Stereogum, Consequence, Brooklyn Vegan, Pollstar, the NY Post and more. Enthusiasm for the track has led to early radio adds across the country at multiple formats, and a quick debut on the Alternative Top 40. All of this activity comes amid a flurry of growth on social media, with the band eclipsing the 4M follower mark on Instagram, and hitting half a Million on TikTok with only three posts on the platform. Not content to let new music have all the shine, the band’s self-titled record just enjoyed a new chart peak on the Billboard 200 in its 50th week on the chart.
With X’s, Cigarettes After Sex finally takes center stage as not just one of today’s preeminent indie bands, but as one of the most globally accomplished acts across any genre, whose often unconventional path to superstardom has helped reshape the very definition of success for artists in the modern era.
"Baby Blue Movie" is available today via all DSPs, and Cigarettes After Sex's new LP, X's, is out July 12th via Partisan Records.
You can see the band live on their world tour starting this Fall. Tickets are on sale now. |
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