Back in January we threw it out to San Diego to vibe with Norii, one of our favorite new artists of 2021 so far. The alt-pop artist caught attention on both coasts with her personal single “Exocoetidae”, which channeled feelings of disenchantment and displacement after a falling out with her family. Now, she’s back with a bounce and a high step in “Vow To You,” a colorful and glitchy tune that emerges in lockstep with the spring season, a track that first formed in a dark place but bloomed along a path to self-assuredness.
“’Vow To You’ was born in the midst of one of my infamous depression benders,” Norii says. “Absolutely sick of the self-pity I couldn’t claw my way out of, I was determined to write a happy song. I spent hours with writer’s block because my fake joy felt so inauthentic. Something shifted once I remembered that cliche advice everyone’s heard: Talk to yourself like you’d talk to your best friend. My best friend has got that whole mental stability thing down pat, so I decided to reverse the roles. I began writing a song as if the person I loved most in the world was in the same dark, glitchy space I was in, and writing lyrics flowed pretty simply after that.”
Norii adds: “’Vow To You’ is a love song to my best friend, and also to myself in a way. Most importantly, we can dance to it.” That’s a vow worth holding on to; fire up “Vow To You” below.