Juliana Madrid Releases New Single 'Astronaut'

The Texas-based, rising artist Juliana Madrid is releasing her song "Astronaut" including the stop motion animation music video handcrafted by Juliana and Ben Ruttner, before releasing her debut EP this Summer on Neon Gold Records (MARINA, Charli XCX, Christine and the Queens etc).

Earlier she shared "Peppermint" on her birthday (April 20) and release her debut "Madonna" (dir Jax Anderson) in February before making her SXSW debut at the Neon Golden showcase supporting Matt Maeson, Rei Ami, etc.

The gorgeously emotional, driving pop track "Astronaut" is written by Mathew Koma (Zedd, Shania Twain), Benjamin Ruttner (The Knocks), and Juliana Adelaida Madrid, and has Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes) on drums.

Juliana Madrid about "Astronaut": "This song is about someone who has done something to jeopardize their relationship. They are feeling sorry for themselves and almost shocked by how they were able to so easily hurt this person they loved. I feel like a lot of people will be able to relate to this song, whichever side of the story they may be on."

About the video, she adds: "This music video started with the idea of wanting a simple handwritten lyric video maybe with some stylized elements. Ben and I quickly turned that idea into a full 2D stop motion production which took way more work than originally intended but was so much more fun. The process started with the creation of characters and a storyline, followed by lots of planning and lots of guesstimating when considering the amount of frames needed for every scene. After this came the actual shooting of the video. With a very janky DIY lighting set up and my phone I'd move a piece a tiny bit- take a picture - repeat 1600 more times. After this Ben used premier pro to edit it all together."

Juliana started playing music at the young age of 9, learning guitar at the encouragement of her parents. Soon after, she enrolled in a local program called School of Rock. There, she began to find her voice while realizing she also had a knack for songwriting, using music as a creative outlet to express herself.

Since then, Juliana and her guitar [which she named "Earl"] have been inseparable, working tirelessly to refine her craft. She frequently performs live and spends the rest of her time writing emotionally driven songs that touch on themes of relationships, religion, and growing up. Her musical influences span across the musical landscape including Fiona Apple, Patsy Cline, Elliot Smith, and Brandon Flowers. Initially writing alone in her bedroom, Juliana recently linked up with GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and producer, Benjamin Ruttner (1/2 of The Knocks), to work on her debut music project.

Listen to the new single here:

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