South London singer/songwriter Matt Maltese has shared a new single. “queen bee,” released today, will be included on the artist’s forthcoming EP, madhouse, set for release on Aug. 7, following Maltese’s acclaimed 2019 album, Krystal.
Almost entirely self-produced, “queen bee” is a light, playful track featuring Brian D’Addario of The Lemon Twigs on guitar and Asha Lorenz of Sorry on secondary vocals. A bittersweet love song, Maltese sings of natural disasters, internet trolls and national timebombs as he tries to navigate modern romance. “You could be my queen bee / I would love you endlessly / Take you to the movies / Share our bitter history,” sings Maltese. “Come rain, come climate change I’ll be waiting / In my private moments, I am praying for you.”
“It’s a song about the notion of finding ‘true love’, and being doubtful yet persistently and annoyingly hopeful,” Maltese says of the single. “It’s a song that sort of speaks to your future lover with equal parts cynicism and soppiness.”
Listen to “queen bee” below, and read Paste’s review of Krystal here.
