Sorcha Murray
After months of sporadic Substack build-up, Samia has released the lead single from her upcoming third studio album, Bloodless (2025).
Fans have had a two-year wait since the ‘Kill Her Freak Out’ singer’s last studio album, Honey (2023). She is joined on her new single, ‘Bovine Excision’, by Hippo Campus producers Caleb Wright and Jake Luppen.
Samia’s Inspiration
Throughout the track, Samia yearns for the feeling of being “bloodless”. She was inspired by the unexplained phenomenon of bovine excision, which is said to have left a string of cattle bloodless and empty.
In a recent album announcement, she explained that the myth became “a metaphor for self-extraction” and a “pursuit for clinical emptiness.”
“Her identity had become inextricably linked with how men perceived her.”
Samia also posted on Substack about the process of deconstruction that she undertook while working on the album. The singer wrote about how her identity had become inextricably linked with how men perceived her. Seeking to accept herself, Samia confronted existing as a fantasy and faced her real sense of self head-on.
The lead single, ‘Bovine Excision’, emphatically upholds the album’s moniker of being “bloodless” and her desire for “self-extraction”. As the incantation of “I wanna be untouchable, I wanna be impossible” is repeated during the track, Samia acknowledges the impossible battle of trying to be unattainably perfect.
Substack Sneak Peeks
Fans have received further insights into upcoming tracks, including ‘Hole in a Frame’ and ‘Proof’.
In ‘Hole in a Frame’, Samia explores the “absence” formed by removing parts of herself for someone she loves. She wrote the track after witnessing a moment which has been memorialised with a frame and plaque.
An enraged Sid Vicious once visited Cain’s Ballroom, a music venue in Oklahoma. According to Samia, the Sex Pistols frontman punched a hole in one of the venue’s walls. This inadvertently created inspiration for Samia’s song 46 years later.
“She has managed to carve a new, much more optimistic path”
Enamoured by the idea of framing an absence, Samia wrote: “A lot of absence framed here: the wall, Sid, etc. It makes some sense to wanna canonise a void.”
Ultimately, on ‘Proof’, Samia echoes sentiments from ‘Bovine Excision’ of being unknowable. She wrote on Substack that when she thinks someone is “getting sick” of her, she tends to “beat them to the punch and stop existing.”
Samia further explained: “’Proof’ is an apology to those I’ve pushed away as soon as they started to know me.” However, she has managed to carve a new, much more optimistic path for herself and wrote that “learning to stick around has been a gift.”
Bloodless Tracklist
The arduous wait since Honey (2023) is almost over, and the new album is set to be released on April 25.
01 Biscuits Intro
02 Bovine Excision
03 Hole In A Frame
04 Lizard
05 Dare
06 Fair Game
07 Spine Oil
08 Craziest Person
09 Sacred
10 Carousel
11 Proof
12 North Poles
13 Pants
While you wait for the album, you can watch Samia’s ‘Bovine Excision’ music video below, directed by Sarah Ritter.
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Featured image courtesy of Kirk Stauffer via Flickr. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.
