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Music

PREMIERE: Lolawolf's "Ayo" Video is Pure Tumblr-Pop

"The video captures an ill rawness from all involved."

Back when we premiered Lolawolf's collage-like video for "Wanna Have Fun," a dark-tinged, 80s-leaning track about a threesome gone awry, singer Zoë Kravitz (yes, Lenny's daughter) told Noisey, "I don’t have the intention of being a popstar. I don’t really care if people like it or not, but if they do, that’s awesome." Fast forward almost a year, one EP and sonic overhaul later, Lolawolf are still operating with a no-fucks-given mentality. Zoë has moved even further away from aspiring pop stardom, towards the M.I.A., circa Vicki Leekx, end of the spectrum. Her new sound on "Ayo," the first peek at the band's upcoming Calm Down album, is abrasive, freeform, and intentionally scattered—but not to the point of no return; there's still a winding melody at play here. It's the kind of ballsy move that takes a moment to process but seems increasingly precocious over time.

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The track's rough-around-the-edges aesthetic is only amplified in its video, premiering below, where Zoë sips on 40s, puffs on a blunt, and shows off her septum amid a swarm lo-fi deep web graphics. There's mushrooms, Super Mario Bros. clouds, sharks passing through (a tongue-in-cheek reference to seapunk), weed leafs, and other hilariously chintzy decor that looks like it was culled from the darkest corners of Tumblr. Even though Zoë doesn't have her sights set on stardom, it's just a matter of time until human reappropriators Rihanna and Katy Perry jack her new aesthetic

The band offers only this about the video: "Directed and shot by Trouble Andrew at the Gucci trap in Bed Stuy. The video captures an ill rawness from all involved."

Calm Down is out October 21.