Shannen James has shared a catchy new single titled ‘Breakfast With You’, leaning heavily into the Melbourne artist’s country-pop inspirations.
Paying homage to the likes of LeAnn Rimes and Shania Twain, the track stands out with its playful, wobbly grooves and understated, yet simultaneously fierce guitar licks, kick-and-clap beat and shimmery vocal harmonies. It’s James’ tongue-in-cheek lyrics that bring it all together, though, as she riffs on terrible dates and a fierce eagerness to let her pestering suitor down.
The track arrives today alongside a video by filmmaker Ellena Paskevicius, which shows James and her friends (Tess Walker and Taylah Theuma) jamming out to the song in an idyllic outback town, decked out in colourful and twee country bumpkin outfits.
Have a look at the video for ‘Breakfast For You’ below:
In a press release, James explained that ‘Breakfast With You’ was “born out of a little guitar riff I had recorded on my phone”, noting that although the idea was “rather simple”, she found that “there was something so catchy about it”.
She continued: “With some finessing and playing around with it for a while with the amazing Xavier Dunn, it morphed into more of a country-esque groove. We went on to write the song in a day loved how playful and cheeky it was, both lyrically and musically. Let this be a be the song you play for someone when you’re maybe trying to let them down easy, or equally, not so easy!”
‘Breakfast With You’ comes as James’ first release for the year, with more new music on the horizon.
It follows a busy year for the singer-songwriter in 2021: she dropped the standalone single ‘Superstitious’ last March, followed by two versions of ‘Separate Ways’ – the original single in July, and then an acoustic redux with Riley Pearce in September – and a collaborative holiday single with Something For Kate frontman Paul Dempsey, ‘Fashionably Late (Every New Year’s Day)’, in November.
Fans will be able to see James play ‘Breakfast With You’ live when she opens for Sycco on her upcoming national tour. Announced today (February 23), James will join the Brisbane pop artist in Sydney, Ballarat, Torquay, Melbourne and Adelaide, with the tour set to kick off next month. Details and tickets can be found on Sycco’s website.