Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
Austin's Alt-Pop Artist Andy Ellis Examines Celluloid Femininity With Synth-Inspired "TV Queen"

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • Austin's Alt-Pop Artist Andy Ellis Examines Celluloid Femininity With Synth-Inspired "TV Queen"
Andy Ellis
Thu Jul 25, 2024
Cashbox Canada

Andy Ellis’ new single “TV Queen” is a neon pop confection that pays tribute to the ’80s via a love letter to the glamourous leading ladies of prime-time past.

TV Queen
You’re up on my screen
Now I can pretend that you want me
TV Queen
You cut your new scene
Right into my heart cuz you know me
You don’t care if I was born to lose
You just wanna make sure that it’s you I choose

You’ll want to roller skate to this song like it’s 1984, you’ve perfectly feathered and AquaNetted your hair, and there’s nothing but lasers and a disco ball guiding your glorious glide.

“‘TV Queen’ is a rockin’ retrowave track that takes a sardonic look at our romanticized modern addiction to media, along with a pounding 1984-inspired rhythm section,” says Ellis. “I tend to default musically to my European influences – Tears For Fears, New Order – but for this song I decided to bring a retro American ‘synth rock’ sound to the forefront. That is until the end of the song, when I wondered what Van Halen would have sounded like if Johnny Marr was the guitarist – and I went there!”

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/7lFM5Onin0hHQp3U0FCO39

Playing with the retro theme, the accompanying music video features clips of TV queens from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s in a fun and hypnotic collage – everyone from Wonder Woman to Farrah Fawcett, to Tiffani Amber Thiessen, to the scintillating Sharon Stone.

The lyrics, as well as the video, examine society’s notions of femininity. “I’m trying to express what it feels like to have a relationship with that thing you project behind the image on the screen,” Ellis explains. “In this case, it’s fantasies of what a woman should be and what is feminine. Over the decades, that seems to have been pushed so far – stretched and twisted in so many different directions – that what the screen demands to meet our fancies is such an over-the-top performance that our ideals have been bent beyond any resemblance of reality.”

“TV Queen” is the follow-up to Ellis’ first retrowave single “Flower Punk Girl,” released last February. While “Flower Punk Girl” explored the ability of fantasy to find a transcendent relationship in our “dead-tech world,” “TV Queen” is about fantasy pretending to be human so convincingly that it limits our ability to relate with the actual world.

Andy Ellis is a music producer and all-around creative guy who explains he recently left mega-city life to “hunt for some perspective on my generation and its legacy while I wait for the apocalypse.”

“I did the mid-’90s Chicago music scene as a teenager; I did the late-’90s alternative So-Cal electronic music scene (with a little hip-hop thrown in). I did the A-list LA studio system, the major label band thing (Black Lab), the producer/engineer/mixer thing (Gavin Rossdale, Seether), and the co-songwriting thing. I now have studio capable of things younger me never could have dreamed of.”

Andy also made music for film and TV, including the Spider-Man, Blade, & Twilight franchises. He also helped make some viral YouTube videos. He did the indie electropop duo thing (The Boom Circuits); He made an experimental solo album (Sunshine at the Edge of the Earth); He has gold and platinum records, and now he’s starting a new phase of creativity in Austin, Texas – and, hence, some fabulous new music.

theandyellis.com

Reviews
Album
Andy Ellis
Month: Jun 2022
Pop Sensation  Andrew Cassara Shows He’s “Better Off” & Moving On with Dancy New Single Pop Sensation Andrew Cassara Shows He’s “Better Off” & Moving On with…
Rockers Arsenal Mills Unleash Release Supercharged New Single, “Give It Up” Rockers Arsenal Mills Unleash Release Supercharged New Single, “Give It Up…
Durham County Poets Are “Back at the Groove Shack,” Leading the Soulful Way ‘Out of the Woods’ with New Album & Single Durham County Poets Are “Back at the Groove Shack,” Leading the…
Canadian Songsmith Christina Martin Drops Blistering New Single, “In Control” Canadian Songsmith Christina Martin Drops Blistering New Single, “In…
Salt Lake City, Utah Pop-Country Artist Elliott Novak “Why Does Everyday Start With Goodbye” Salt Lake City, Utah Pop-Country Artist Elliott Novak “Why Does…
Heather Charlottetown, PEI Heather Releases Unadulterated Rock ‘N’ Roller“…
Janel Rae Explores Inner & Outer Wreckage with Radically Honest “Sometimes” Janel Rae Explores Inner & Outer Wreckage with Radically Honest “Sometimes…
Morgan x Barrie Explores Human Connection & the Search for Our Place in the World with New Album, Lines Morgan x Barrie Explores Human Connection & the Search for…
Summerside, PEI's Alt-Rocker Soul Filter Say “The City Knows” with New Single Summerside, PEI's Alt-Rocker Soul Filter Say “The City Knows” with New…
Windsor, ON-Born, NYC-Based Leah Harris’ New Single “Shine” Climbing the Charts Windsor, ON-Born, NYC-Based Leah Harris’ New Single “Shine” Climbing the…
Winnipeg's Pop/R&B Artist Stanley Battles With Ego Vs Love In New Single, “Twisted” Winnipeg's Pop/R&B Artist Stanley Battles With Ego Vs Love In New…
Chris Antonik Blues-Rocker Chris Antonik Explores the Hurt of Being Shut Out in…
Frida Maria Encapsulating Every Emotion & Beyond, Pop-EDM Artist Frida Maria…
Flowshine Calgary Alt-Rockers Flowshine Say “Give It A Go” on their Release of…
Christian Artist Ileen Laura Brings Needed Awareness Scleroderma with “Fight Left In Me” Christian Artist Ileen Laura Brings Needed Awareness Scleroderma…

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • …
  • Page 69
  • Page 70
  • Page 71
  • Page 72
  • Current page 73
  • Page 74
  • Page 75
  • Page 76
  • Page 77
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers