Life Of A Homeboy

With her latest single, “Loser,” LA-based artist CARR, aka Carly McClellan, continues searching for peace of mind, making music for a dissatisfied generation. Her searing track tackles the perils of modern dating, the art of indecisiveness, and the disillusion behind today’s gut-wrenching expectations. CARR’s upcoming collection of songs centers around a myriad of sonic left-turns and diaristic songwriting, interrogating the stark realities of coming-of-age mistakes, toxic relationships, and the sometimes painful but joyous roads of self-discovery.

The track highlights the artist’s pop-punk roots by paying homage to the emotiveness of icons like Avril Lavigne and The All-American Rejects. CARR has an indisputable talent for infusing memorable power-pop guitars and tongue-in-cheek lyrics with brutal honesty. CARR’s deadpan delivery, especially on lines like “now you’re all alone with your tiny dick,” is driven by clever songwriting and contains energy that moves across alt-pop, energetic indie-rock and pop-punk tendencies. 

“I fought hard to have that line kept in the song,” shares the artist about her more inflammatory lyrics. “8/10 people wanted me to change it, and I was like no way.” Wryly observational yet candidly familiar, “Loser” is an immensely relatable anthem that looks back on the crappy people you’ve dated only to realize all you can do now is poke fun at yourself for dealing with those miserable circumstances in the first place.

CARR shares, “We made ‘Loser’ about those types of people you date that just really, really suck. It’s kind of like a realization of how low you’ve stooped for them. I wanted to make a fun anthem about it, and something I wish I could’ve blasted in my car when I was getting over some horrible dudes. It was the most fun I’ve had in a session probably ever because we were just laughing the whole time, making jokes that we put in the song.”

The accompanying music video is an equally engaging piece of art full, partly stemming from CARR’s own background in film. The Natalie Leonard and Rachel Cabitt directed music video flirts between melodrama, camp, and the grotesque. “I originally made a mood board for the project, and it had a lot of old horror movie references and just overall dark vibes,” explains the New Jersey native. “So, when we had a call with the Pond Creative girls, we talked about how much I love fucked up things and horror in general. So from that, they sent over a treatment, and I was obsessed with the plotline. They nailed it on the first try.”

The clip opens with the singer drenched head to toe in blood while she muses over just how horrible of a person her former flame was to her. “I’m obsessed with horror films, so I was strangely so excited for this video and to be made a bloody mess,” shares CARR. “The best part was just getting to be covered in blood, running around the streets of New York with everyone staring and concerned. People were terrified. I think a kid even started crying at one point." 

CARR is then seen carrying her victim down a flight of apartment stairs and exclaiming in the streets that she "can do so much better.” She continues, “The most challenging aspect of it was carrying the 'body bag’ up and down the apartment steps. They made it with tons of small plastic bags filled with water to give it the chunkiness of an actual body. It was so heavy, I was genuinely struggling- no acting needed.”

“Loser” is an empowering must-add to any summer playlist, perfect for blasting at full volume while going for night drives with your partners in crime.

Listen to “Loser” below:

You can (albeit loosely) trace Katy Perry's career back to decaydance. Kanye was featured on their stuff. Pete has always written lyrics pointed directly at the politics of the music scene and American politics MUCH more than mcr. They tried to release folie on fucking election day. Go listen to 20 Dollar Nosebleed right now. Tell me that's not fucking biting. Even the songs that people say are just 'sad party love songs' have layers. Atavan Halen sounds like a funny pun until you realize that pete wentz tried to kill himself by OD'ing on Ativan the year that album was released and that song is less about being worked up over a girl and more about addiction and depression in the shape of a girl. Fall Out Boy's sound has always been incredibly unique bc they use elements from primarily Black-focused genres, a fact that none of them have been ashamed of or tried to hide, which definitely comes in part from Pete's biracial heritage. And the fact the patrick stump has good taste in music.

And also! I make warped 2005 jokes all the time! they can be funny. BUT! Do you guys not see how weird it is to take all the incredible art and creativity and emotion that a black guy has put out into the world and say it's because he has a fixation on this white guy that a bunch of people on the internet think he fucked 17 years ago. Like some of y'all are not just joking. Infinity On High is not about mikey way go read up on the Fred Hampton Jr. trial and listen to You're Crashing But You're No Wave before you talk to me. I could write essays about what a fascinating person pete wentz is. stop reducing him to a side character in his own career.

broken drum sticks, dust, shredded converse, basements and garages, sneaking out of your parent’s house, starting on cigarettes at sixteen, your brother’s guitar, platonic (romantic) intimacy, sweat, telling mom your phone died so she won’t wonder why you’re not responding to her messages, beat up cds, best friends, getting out of your hometown, crashing on a shitty couch, the static from a cheap amp, posters plastered on the ceiling, your first time

From Under the Cork Tree is…

bitter autumn mornings, mixtapes, an old bible, record stores, dead trees, dizzying desire, keeping secrets, the condensation we made on the inside of my car, lace and leather, faking it, your voicemail when i’ve had one too many, ex friends, the ribbon on my wrists, dusty mirrors you can’t recognize yourself in, waking up with the sunrise, hotel rooms, regret, hands on thighs, urban vampires, prescriptions, a tree falling in a forest and not making a sound, refusing to say sorry

Infinity On High is…

late night drives trying to convince yourself that it still matters, cowardice, fluorescent street lights, parking lots at midnight, intrusive thoughts, screaming into a pillow, the glow in the dark stars on your ceiling from when you were a kid, taxi cabs, faith in tarot cards, getting lost in your eyes and between your thighs, van gogh’s starry night, apologizing, knowing someone still loves you, sunlight through dust, the morning after, a full moon, melatonin, the magic of making it, a gut wrenching lust for life

Folie á Deux is…

a never ending carousel, longing for the sea but always getting sea sick, glossy lips spitting lies, flashing cameras, long awaited catharsis, vanities and vanity, an ego too big to even look at your wrists anymore, what happens in vegas, edison bulbs, one friend’s wedding and another friend’s funeral, piles of filled notebooks, being at peace with an ending, broken binding, feeling lonely in a crowd

Save Rock and Roll is…

american gothic, strange symbols, haze, rotting fruit, empty buildings on the outskirts of town, static, missing you, what we once wanted, wild fires, whiskey, forgetting on purpose, hating what you’ve done, brotherhood, moving on, a little more light, vintage cars on dirt roads, playing the piano until the keys run red

American Beauty/American Psycho is…

subverted beauty, lipstick stains on cigarettes, fireworks, the smell of smoke, barking dogs in the distance, knowing i’ll find my way back to you, chain fences, mascara tears, taking this outside, engagement rings in pawn shops, butcher shops, the hometown we once shared, graveyards at night, a stare that can cut like a knife, kissing you so you’ll shut up, wilted roses

MANIA is…

The All-American Rejects have released a three-track single/EP, ‘Send Her To Heaven’. It’s their debut release on Epitaph Records.

The title track came from a co-writing session vocalist Tyson Ritter had with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. The band recorded the song with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck, OK Go) in a live setting.

‘Send Her To Heaven’ is followed by ‘Gen Why? (DGAF)’. Tyson says the song was inspired when “I was driving one night next to this teenage girl who was smoking with the windows up and looked like she was part of this crazy lifestyle that I had no understanding about,”

Third track ‘Demons’“is about things that people experience in their late 20s when you’re struggling with your own isolated ideas and then something happens and your consciousness is broken wide open and you start to care about yourself in a really unique, thoughtful way, even though it’s frightening,”

Watch the video for ‘Send Her To Heaven’ below.