(15 May) CATTY has revealed her "sapphic Thelma & Louise"-inspired video for new single 'Joyride'. Directed by Sam Kinsella and co-starring Amy Spalding, the video is a defiant burst of queer joy, following the pair as they tear off in a vintage convertible, all wind-in-hair, pedal-down romance. Co-written by CATTY and Amy Spalding, the video for 'Joyride' is a refreshing celebration of lesbian love, freedom, and visibility - in an industry still dominated by heteronormative narratives.
Speaking on the video for 'Joyride', CATTY said:
“I don’t think I would have kissed any of those boys if I grew up with positive queer media. There was either no gay people in the programme or the plot would get good and the gays would get buried. A lot of our stories are rooted in sadness and I’m familiar with them - I’ve dated the girl who would never come out of the closet and I’ve sat alone in the same one. I’ve watched gay people die on TV, on the news, in real life and I’ve seen every single one of my friends be the butt of the joke. It’s important that those stories are told but we need queer joy too, my experience of being in love with a woman has been full of it. We are inherently protective and empathetic and loving and there aren’t many things more powerful than two women with the same goal. I know Thelma & Louise wasn’t an explicitly sapphic piece of media but female empowerment and rebellion against societal expectations is, so we just put our foot down.
“I first saw Amy when she was on the BBC’s first lesbian TV show (which is crazy, in this big year) and I met her for the first time in the smoking area of a show I was doing and I was completely enamoured with her. When she walks into a room, you look at her. I haven’t really stopped looking at her since. Producing and starring in this video with her was truly such a gift.”
Co-star Amy Spalding, added:
"Growing up I used to latch on to any sapphic media I could, it was slim pickings so I savoured every drop. Each source I consumed triggered a pang of belonging somewhere deep inside but hadn’t quite figured out what it was yet. Had I had more reference points perhaps I would have been saved a lot of pain. Everyday I get DMs about the impact that ‘I Kissed A Girl’ had on people’s queer journeys and it just goes to show the importance of seeing yourself and own experiences reflected in the mainstream. Music was such a huge part of my queer self discovery, from Kehlani to Haley Kiyoko (I’ve watched the girls like girls music video so many times it’s etched onto the surface of my brain). Safe to say had CATTY been around in the mid to late 2010s she would have been firmly sat on my secret sapphic yearning playlist wedged between King Princess and Halsey.
When Catty first sent me Joyride the first image that jumped into my head was Thelma & Louise with a sapphic twist. The collab was very organic and we just started spit balling ideas from there. Selfishly I really just wanted to make out with my girlfriend in a vintage sports car."
'Joyride' is the first new music to be heard since CATTY's breakout debut EP 'Healing Out Of Spite' - released late 2024. 'Joyride' was premiered on BBC Radio 1's Future Pop as Jodie Bryant's Future Bop (listen back to the interview here), and this week CATTY is Spotify UK's RADAR First Listen Artist of the Week.
Written in what CATTY calls "pure panic," 'Joyride' is part love song, part breakdown, part surrender - capturing the emotional freefall that follows a year of holding everything back. Messy, theatrical and emotionally unfiltered, ‘Joyride’ surges with baroque keys, stabbing strings, and spiralling brass - setting the stage for CATTY’s powerhouse vocal.
Navigating emotional whiplash in real time, CATTY cycles through self-doubt ("Here next to you I throw it all away / Watching my dignity circle the drain"), fatalism ("I don’t even care if I get out alive"), and blind hope ("Am I the one? Before the one that stays?") - all set to a rush of pop-rock drama.
On the release of 'Joyride', CATTY said:
"Everything I write is unfortunately a little too true to life. I was in the studio with Nathan and Juliette (the co-writers) and I was telling them about this girl I’d met in the smoking area of a gig but I’d sworn off love for 14 months, hadn’t even kissed anyone in a bar. I was done - love had chewed me up and spat me out but I couldn’t stay away from her. So I tried what I think is called a situationship for all of two weeks (what the fuck is a situationship?) - I hated it. I've never been casual about anything and I would have followed her into the depths of hell. So Joyride is basically me saying, I'm all in, please don’t hurt me." |
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