When reminded of the scene in your high school restroom, what immediately comes to mind? Was it a cool place to congregate with friends between classes, or was it an evil hellscape where social nightmares became reality? For Zoe Ko, the New York City alt-pop artist who dropped the voyeuristic video for spiky new single “Baby Teeth” this past Friday (September 15), it’s a little bit of both.
“The school bathroom is one of the most nostalgic or traumatic places for people. It is where most of the drama and gossip happened in my school,” Ko says. “I dealt with seeing slut shaming nicknames written all over the bathroom stalls and walls. It was only fitting to have this video capture me in the setting of a high school bathroom going through all of those past emotions while being the most true and exuberant version of myself.”
The kinetic “Baby Teeth” will be featured on Ko’s forthcoming EP, and follows last month’s “Rib Cage” single. It’s got a lil’ bit of Paramore in its icy veins, and a lil’ bit of Olivia Rodrigo in its fluid playfulness. And it should continue to elevate Zoe Ko to easy recognition in a crowded field.
“This is an introspective song on which I call myself out for holding onto bad habits, past traumas and deep-seated insecurities,” Ko shares. “I went through so many changes in my life in the past year and a half and finally stepped into the person I was supposed to be. Growth and transformation can be terrifying because it means you must let go of a lot of stuff from your past that made you who you are.”
Just keep it in the high school restroom.