Singled Out: Dolly Dagger's Nightmare

Keavin Wiggins | 07-26-2023

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Los Angeles-based Australian artist Dolly Dagger just released a music video for her new single "Nightmare". We asked her to tell us about the track to celebrate. Here is the story:

Nightmare came about after my guitarist and co-writer (Jesse McInturff) sent me the verse guitar riff. In his words, he found it forgeable, but I (Dolly) immediately heard a talking melody perfect for some lyrics I had saved in my notes app. There was a real tension in the guitars and the feeling it gave really helped me get in to the right zone to continue on from the noted lyrics. Jesse always heard a big, open and traditional rock chorus and though that had space to sing over it, I felt this chant-like statement come forward as I was working through it.

Lyrically, Nightmare reflects the frustrations of feeling held back by societal standards or sometimes industry standards, and feeling like you're not living the life you imagined. Especially for anyone facing ageism in the creative industry, which is heavily prominent among women and non binary artists, the lyric "Too old // Not old enough"encapsulates how I was feeling at the time followed by "Burn myself out before I even get there" collectively it's a commentary on the youth obsessed, creative industries and how a lot of girls and women feel a pressure to achieve certain milestones "while they're young" or risk being discarded or "unmarketable". Which of course, I reject that idea but am not immune to feeling the pressures!

Sonically I really enjoyed playing around with a few different vocal effects on the bridge, layering delays and glitched spoken parts to hopefully give a nightmarish feeling that foreshadows the jarring guitar back in to the final chorus. This song was actually written quite some time ago but sat as a demo before going over the tracks we wanted to release for 2023 and ultimately deciding that Nightmare would be the lead single off our debut EP of the same name. The tracks selected to be released on the EP have a similar feeling and the "is this real life" subject matter thematically sets the tone.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about Dolly here