“This harmonious trio know how to turn their ideas into something so melodic, evinced articulately on ‘Supervillain’.”
September 29th and the much awaited collab from singer-songwriter Holly Hebe, electro-pop artist Ivoris and indie-pop musician Zhuli is here. In ‘Supervillain’, the trio step into a persona often speculated as the default role women play after the downfall of a relationship or the aftermath of a conflict.
‘Supervillain’ goes straight into this hazy assemble, immersed in hypothetical lyricism and dream pop acoustics. The lyric ‘I could wreck your city, just so you could save the day’ paints this contrast of fault and faultlessness prominently. The song lushly flows in and out of the indie verses, soulful pre-chorus and atmospherically pop chorus. Within this it’s observable that Zhuli, Ivoris and Hebe are involved in the same realm musically, but have their own individual undertones that differentiate what they each bring to ‘Supervillain’.
All three singers discussed the song. Ivoris talked about how they become this ‘Supervillain’ persona. “Alana (Zhuli), Holly and I were talking about how common it is for women to be labelled the ‘crazy ex’ or the ‘bitch’ when someone wants to paint themselves as the victim,” she said.
“We wrote this song on an all-female writing trip that Sab (Ivoris) organised earlier this year, and it’s my favourite song to come out of that experience because it was a great bonding moment for us all!” added Zhuli regarding the initial process of making the melody.
Holly spoke on how fun it was bringing the elements of ‘Supervillain’ together: “I was able to experiment with the blend of all of our vocals and play around with fitting in the harmonies so that our voices could all feature and be supported by each other.”
A fast tempo slows down at the bridge, and the instrumental lowers so we can hear angelic vocals up closer, zooming in on the tones and how they match up with the lyrics. And of course, the song couldn’t end without one last chorus and a series of high notes starring amongst glowing production.
You can listen to the song here: