Novaa’s infectious new single “The Futurist” begins like a lot of pop songs over the years — a scene at a gas station, with the Berlin-based experimental-pop artist eyeballing a person across the way, filling up his, her, or their tank. But there’s no sexy playfulness or teen dream crashing the course, and the subject quickly turns to science and climate change.
It’s a skillful introduction to Novaa’s glossy alt-pop track, which blends a galloping beat with doting synth strings, and sets the tone for some seriousness in the moment and the future. “The Futurist” is the title track from Novaa’s forthcoming album, out September 28, and it’s billed as an LP that explores both how we used to see the future and how we used to imagine the future. And it’s rooted very firmly in the realities of now.
Because what happens now will undoubtedly shape tomorrow.
“This is not meant to be a moral pointing finger song,” says Novaa. “It might come off as one, but my attempt was to write a song that is fun but also talks about how important it is to save the environment. Now that we have the Fridays For Future ‘trend’ I feel like there is a thread of social division. Don’t get me wrong; I think this is one of the healthiest trends that there can be. But every time that a radically good idea becomes popular and gets a lot of attention, there are people that go against it just as radically. Climate change is one of, if not the most, important issue right now. Let’s make sure we don’t get lost in who is right about why, when and how to save it so we can actually save it.”
Novaa adds: “I wrote ‘The Futurist’ about three years ago. The whole song was already there. But I wasn’t happy with my first production sketch. So after my debut album dropped I started from scratch again. I added the string synth in the chorus, cut out a lot of harmonies that were in there before, added the vocal sample and programmed a beat. As I wasn’t happy with my beat and wanted to have one with a more organic feel, I cut it out again [before recording].”
Fill it up below.