Shilpa Ray Shares Laid-Back New Single “Heteronormative Horseshit Blues”

Shilpa Ray has released the new single “Heteronormative Horseshit Blues,” alongside the accompanying music video. Amos Poe directed the video while JR Skola produced, with Stephanie Peterson providing makeup and Shilpa Ray designing the costume. The video is the first in a series that will include the two characters Shilpa Ray created to comment on “overblown heteronormativity,” with Shilpa Ray utilizing the Marilyn Monroe-esque Doris Daydream and the greaser character of Danny LeDouche.

“Straight culture is in dire need of a reform/defund/abolishment discussion,” Shilpa Ray said in a press statement. “I wrote this song from my experiences of being stuck in an abusive relationship during my mid to late 20s, only to come to the realization that the non abusive ones weren’t that much better in terms of power dynamos and conforming gender roles.

Donning pearls and wearing a blonde haircut similar to Marilyn Monroe’s, Shilpa Ray’s character Doris Daydream sings in front of beachside imagery in the 1950s-styled music video. Danny LeDouche dances in a slimy tone in the back as she sings, crashing waves cascading behind her. The song finds Shilpa Ray smoothly singing the song’s lyrics amid laid-back guitar strings and shining instrumentals. The lovely tone of the track creates a startling contrast to the song’s lyrics, with Shilpa Ray describing a woman having to make herself smaller in a relationship with “Grounds of eggshells and your fragile ego/How I’ve dimmed my light to walk behind you.”

“This song was inspired by Billy Idol’s, ‘Eyes Without A Face’ sans awkward rap section,” Shilpa Ray said in a press statement. “I wanted to create a sharp contrast between the nature of the lyrics said by a defeated character against a hazy overtly romantic soundscape. Kind of like the ’80s doing the ’50s.”

The new single follows “Manic Pixie Dream Cunt,” which was released this past spring. The single was the first release since Shilpa Ray’s 2017 sophomore album, Door Girl in 2017, which included the single “Morning Terrors Nights of Dread.” The album followed her debut in 2015, with Last Year’s Savage.