In all grand musical productions of all sorts, it is always the songwriters, ghostwriters, composers, arrangers and more behind the scenes that act as the emanating source of creative light. While these big elaborate Billboard chart blazers are phenomena in their own rights in sound and spectacle, but it is arguably always more exciting when one these obfuscated authors step forth from the shadows of the stage wings and into the bright beams of the center spotlight. Thus is the case with the breakout single “I Can’t Wait to Be British” from Carol Ades, otherwise known as the Los Angeles by way of New Jersey tunesmith, Caroline Pennell. Bringing news of a solo debut EP available TBD in latter 2021, Ades’ big debut is bold, cheeky, devastating and wildly off the rails in an all too real and imaginative self-described exercise in ‘self-aware escapism.’ It is the feeling and sound of feeling and being full on fed up with everything and everyone in your life. It is the thought plane that takes off from the sticky situations at home that fantasizes about starting a new life across the pond and then just maybe all of those problems, failures, betrayals, heartbreaks, shortcomings, trauma and more will fade away abroad in the windy twists of the Atlantic sea faring breeze. It is the sick of it all fever dream that honestly chalks up the quixotic inner mania that mixes latent wishes, obsessive unconscious ticks, discontent, disconnections, embarrassingly personal insecurities and so forth in a track that speeds and flees forward in flight.

While on the surface it seemingly sounds like a fleeting jet set luxury flight of fancy, Carol acutely tackles the depths of regret and resentment on levels that rival the raw revelatory lyricism of her colleagues and fellow contemporaries. Ades goes for the jugular in a no holds barred lyrical dive into matters that range from (but certainly are not limited to) body dysmorphia, unfulfilled collegiate/life experiences, generational issues of self-image, discontinuities of relationships, self-loathing, emotional/nervous breakdowns, self-image and more delivered in an expressive urgency. It is the feeling of heated desire to abandon ship for a new shore when everything is falling apart, instead of actively working through these myriad life complications. Carol Ades draws out in an impassioned song the fight or flight tug of war from within that thinks the grass is always greener on the British-accented lily pad across the pond. In Carol’s own words — followed by the artist’s own exclusive curation:

It’s really just about feeling out of control and half joking / half genuinely hoping I would find that control if I moved to London and had a totally different life, it’s sort of self-aware escapism! The structure is so chaotic to represent my train of thought surrounding my feelings. It doesn’t really make any sense but at the same time it adds up in some weird way? It’s a very very very true reflection of my brain and the thoughts I fight off on a daily basis. And I also genuinely think I was meant to be a British woman!

I want fans to listen to these songs and feel like, Oh shit, I really needed to hear that or That’s what I was feeling this morning, but I couldn’t figure out the words to describe it. I’m going to keep building a world around a community of people who feel like me and want to help each other through hard things.

Five things that make Carol Ades cry

Videos of medical students getting matched to a residency program on YouTube

This one is so random and I don’t know why it makes me so emotional, it could not be farther from my world in music but I get so emotional and SO HAPPY FOR THEM when they get matched to the school they want. It is so fun and emotional to me.

Driving and listening to “Clean” by the The Japanese House

Only when I’m driving, makes me think of an old relationship and makes me sob every time. Her voice is so emotional and the song is perfect and I’m also clearly in love with her.

When all my friends are together

My friends are my family in Los Angeles and I love sitting on my floor with them and talking about our days and lives. I make everyone go around and say their highs and lows of the day and it always makes me feel emotional. We used to live in a big house together but now we all live in different parts of LA so when we are all together It makes me cry because I love them so much and they mean so much to me.

Moving my furniture at 2 am

I compulsively move my furniture around when I feel out of control. I get so worked up and think it will help relieve my anxiety, which it does at first, but then I spiral about where to put the plant and end up crying until I move everything back to where it originally was. Classic.

Literally nothing, it just starts out of nowhere all the time

Hormones baby.

Carol Ades’ single “I Can’t Wait to Be British” is available now everywhere with an EP slated for arrival later this year.