Eliott returns with stunning new single 'Tell Me' and announces her debut album will be out this year
Image: Jess Brohier
Melbourne based alt-pop singer/songwriter Eliott today returns with the new single ‘Tell Me’, her first release of new original material in over two years.
Co-written with Andy Hopkins (Yorke, Hauskey) ‘Tell Me’ is a gorgeous, powerful track that blends elements of gospel, soul and electronica paired with Eliott’s remarkably expressive and compelling vocal. First written back in 2019, the song reflects a period when Eliott was struggling with her mental health and turmoil in her personal life. The lyrical theme is both heartbreaking and familiar, and Eliott brilliantly captures the sense of confusion, loss, depression and desperate need for someone to say something, anything, to help you pull yourself out of a hole. “So tell me mother, when will I know what to do?… How do I keep up when I don’t wanna get up this time?” she sings, with the song ending on a plaintive plea “Tell me it’s alright”.
“I wrote ‘Tell Me’ when I was 22 years old and really feeling the weight of the world. My direction wasn’t clear I was a little lost and unsure of the path I wanted to take,” Eliott says. “Something for me which has helped heal and understand the emotions that I'm going through, is songwriting. Songwriting for me is the purest form of therapy, I'll often subconsciously write something which I've been internally keeping in for a very long time and it gives me the space to let it out into the world and out of my own head – and with this song, that was the case.”
Also released today is the music video for ‘Tell Me’. Filmed by Joshua Tate on 16mm film in one continuous take, there is a stripped back feel to the clip as Eliott performs in front of her all-white clad band and choir. “To pull it together in that amount of time was nerve racking, but I felt alive,” says Eliott. “There’s no room for error there, no leeway. You can’t have a bad performance. I really had to step into that role. But I think this song tells me to trust myself, so I did and it worked.”
‘Tell Me’ is the first taste of Eliott’s upcoming debut album which will be released later this year. It is a highly anticipated and long awaited release from the artist who first broke through in 2017 with the single ‘Figure It Out’. Over the intervening years she has won praise and commercial success for her music which spans pop, soul and indie and is always warm, involving and relatable. ‘Tell Me’ is a brilliant return from an extremely talented artist and augurs well for an equally brilliant debut album.
‘Tell Me’ is out now via Island Records Australia. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Eliott you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
