Rowena Wise announces sophomore album Bad Things Feel Good alongside vulnerable new single.
Rowena Wise is back with a new album announcement, and if latest single ‘Diamond In The Rough’ is anything to go by, she’s leaning even further into the messy emotional grey areas that has made her one of Australia’s most compelling indie songwriters.
Today, the Naarm/Melbourne artist announced her sophomore album Bad Things Feel Good, arriving August 7 via Beloved Records and Remote Control Records, alongside the release of the new track.
Following on from ‘Blood Ties’ – a song about inherited silence and complicated family dynamics – ‘Diamond In The Rough’ looks at the pressure of constantly needing to be “special” or impressive, and the burnout that comes with trying to live up to that version of yourself.
Wise said the song came after watching a close friend struggle through an identity crisis, placing impossible expectations on themselves to always be the most accomplished, desired or interesting person in the room.
Instead, the track lands somewhere much more grounded: the reminder that you don’t actually need to be extraordinary to deserve love or connection.
The accompanying music video leans into those same themes of performance and isolation. Filmed in a semi-abandoned warehouse apartment, Wise said the visuals were inspired by Jamie Lee Curtis’ dance scene in The Last Showgirl, recreating that same feeling of public performance masking private loneliness.
Recorded live over three days at The Ratshack in Collingwood with producer Rob Muinos, Bad Things Feel Good captures someone trying to make peace with uncertainty in real time.
Bad Things Feel Good arrives August 7. You can pre-save and pre-order the album now.
