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Jan 18, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Zealand Yancy KALI

16-year-old singer/songwriter Kali Flanagan, has returned with her newest single and video, “Lucy,” premiering a day early with Under the Radar. Though she’s still school-aged, KALI has already spent years in music. In 2017, she assembled her first band, Big Wednesday, playing local LA venues and writing songs on Garageband. Her solo work as KALI debuted last year with “Back To The Start,” an infectious introduction to her buoyant indie pop hooks and sharp instrumentals. Both “Back To The Start” and “Lucy” will appear on KALI’s debut EP, CIRCLES, coming May 7.

“Lucy” is pure escapist indie pop brilliance, bringing to mind simple days of young romance with its dreamy melodies and lovestruck lyrics. Whille KALI’s offbeat rhythms and quirky instrumentals do bring to mind fellow Gen Z indie pop newcomers like Claud or Rex Orange County, her vocals also hit a unique wistful high that’s all her own. Also, few other young songwriters have KALI’s preternatural instinct for colorful melodies, such as the song’s bubbling guitar line and chorus’ ebullient hooks. The video, directed by Zealand Yancy and Sophia Ziskin, documents the burgeoning romance between KALI and Lucy, capturing all of the carefree joys and pitch-perfect teenage awkwardness of young love.

Flanagan says of the song, “‘Lucy’ is definitely one of the more light and playful songs I’ve produced, if not the most on the EP. With the video, we really wanted to create the visual representation of the dreamy and enchanting feelings of infatuation I was writing about. But at the same time, we wanted to emphasize the darker side of those emotions and the unfortunate reality of the relationship that I was writing about. I think on the surface ‘Lucy’ can be taken as a really bubbly song, but looking a little deeper reveals that not everything is as black and white as it seems and that there are many sides to every story. ‘Lucy’ is like an onion, as Shrek would say.” Check out the song below and watch for KALI’s debut EP CIRCLES, out May 7.