Blusher’s ‘Rave Angel’ Is Dedicated To All The Nighttime Freaks

ENTERTAINMENT: A perfect night out doesn’t always come easy. Sometimes, you have to search for it, hunt for just the right person to talk to at a busy function, trudge through the show to get to the afterparty, or make the executive decision to sneak into that rave you didn’t actually get tickets to, anyway. It’s a lesson Melbourne-based band Blusher recently learned as they did just that to attend a secret Charli XCX and A. G. Cook set (Spoiler alert: they got in). “We were sitting at an In-N-Out burger, about to go home and call it a night after many failed attempts to get ourselves an invitation,” they tell NYLON. “We egged each other on to push through, and ended up having a huge, inspiring night.”

That night is now the basis of the band’s brilliant new song “Rave Angel,” a technicolor, electro-pop anthem dedicated to all the resplendent, nighttime freaks who know that the end of a party is simply the start of another one. Over a pounding pop beat that sounds pulled from Charli XCX’s early catalog, they warmly croon about not letting things “pass you by,” and living it up “til morning comes.” An ethereal dance break in the song’s second half is especially intoxicating. And as a late-20s-something who nowadays instinctively stays in over going out, it’s become a tender reminder I should probably cherish the energy of my youth while I still can.

Below, NYLON exclusively premieres the song’s music video, which shows the band’s three members — Lauren Coutts, Jade Ingvarson-Favretto, and Miranda Ward — equipped in sparkly rave gear dancing their hearts out in an empty parking lot, every night owl’s liminal space. “Rave Angel” is the band’s latest single in a slew of sparkling pop releases that have brought them on the road opening for acts like Aurora and Tove Lo. Hear the song below, and read on to learn more about Blusher.

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NYLON: What are you up to right now — describe your surroundings.

BLUSHER: Right now we’re in L.A., writing at our friend Pink Slip’s house (the producer we made “Rave Angel” with). He has a pink piano, pink drums, pink furniture — it’s very Blusher-core. There are a lot of cute squirrels and hummingbirds in the backyard, which is still a big deal to us when we visit here from Australia.

This song is inspired by a real night out you guys had sneaking into a secret Charli XCX and A. G. Cook set. How did that happen?

We were fueled by tequila and sheer determination to sneak ourselves in to hear Charli/A.G Cook’s unreleased music. We were sitting at an In-N-Out burger, about to go home and call it a night after many failed attempts to get ourselves an invitation. We egged each other on to push through, and ended up having a huge, inspiring night. The next morning Pink Slip asked us what Charli was like behind the decks, and Miranda said she looked like “a beautiful Rave Angel.” We wrote the song to remind ourselves to always push through for the plot.

How did you guys meet and start making music?

All three of us were writers/producers and solo artists in Melbourne before we met each other at a gig. We bonded over our shared obsession for hard-hitting pop music with meaningful lyrics — we’d never met anyone else who referenced the same Robyn and Kesha deep-cuts before. After our first session together, where we wrote our first single, “Softly Spoken,” we kind of looked at each other and said, “Are we a band? I think we’re a band now!”

Where are your favorite places to rave?

We rave hardest in the Uber on the way to the actual party. Nothing really gets us hyped like our own pre-game playlist, to be honest.

What’s next for Blusher?

We’re here in L.A. writing for the next month, then heading to Japan for Snow Machine festival! We can’t wait to perform, and to DJ on the snow slopes, then spend some time in Tokyo. We’ve been working on so much new music that we are itching to get out this year. This next phase feels like Blusher with the saturation turned up to 200%.

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by Steffanee Wang

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