Photo credit Haley Bowland
After announcing her forthcoming album earlier this month, Brooklyn-based indie artist Gemma Laurence shares the second single off the album: Hedonist, an anthem about falling in love with yourself. Sexy, beguiling, and a little tongue-in-cheek, “Hedonist” marks a departure for the previously self-described “Sapphic folk” artist into the grittier, darker world of rock n roll and seduction. Her sultry alto soars over bombastic rock production in a hypnotic rock anthem that oozes sex appeal.
On the song, Laurence shares: “I wanted to write a song about being completely self-indulgent. It’s about giving myself the love and attention that I usually give to others, channeling it all back in towards myself and really enjoying it. I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to make myself smaller for other people and worrying about being ‘too much.’ This song really throws that in the garbage and lights it on fire. I wrote it in the aftermath of a breakup, but it’s not really about the person who broke my heart at all — it’s about me; it’s about falling in love with myself again.”
Proving that she is not just a gifted songwriter but a natural performer as well, Laurence shows off her dancing chops in the accompanying music video, which she co-wrote with director Sophia Alaniz and co-choreographed with professional line dancer Julia Wortman. Moving fluidly across the stage with the grace of a seasoned performer, Laurence enraptures and captivates her audience in her latest offering. The video, influenced by Twin Peaks and cowboy noir films, features an entirely queer-femme cast, which was an important decision for Laurence. “The song is all about learning how to take up more space and be louder about your needs and your desires,” Laurence shares, “So it was important to me that I work with a cast and crew of queer folks and womxn on this project: people that have been conditioned to make themselves smaller, to minimize their needs for others. We’re taking that back. One queer line dancing music video at a time!”
In the video, Laurence’s stage presence is undeniably magnetic, her gaze captivating, her movement hypnotic. You can tell she’s a natural performer. “I’ve been dancing since I was young but I’ve kind of neglected it in my adult life… until I discovered the queer line dancing community in NYC! It’s been such a blessing finding my people here. Everyone who stars in this video is someone I met through the scene.”
On the inspiration behind the video, she shares: “The song is all about giving into your desires, so I wanted to build this stylized, heightened world of decadence and abundance. Twin Peaks was a big reference; I’m obsessed with David Lynch. I wanted to create my own One Eyed Jacks-esque liminal cabaret space that centered female sexuality, but not through the male gaze.”
On the creative process behind the video, director Sophia Alaniz shares: “I wanted the video to just be about Gemma. Within the lyrics and video the sole focus is Gemma. You never see the person she is with in the video and we never mention anyone listed in the lyrics. Not the girl she went home with, or her ex, or even her therapist. Just Gemma. Honestly, my biggest take away from this video is I want girls, women, femme-presenting people to be hedonists. Let’s make #SelfishGirlSummer a thing.”
“Hedonist” is the second single off of her upcoming album, We Were Bodies Underwater, due out Summer 2025 via MainFactor and Mad Dragon Records. At its core, We Were Bodies Underwater is a story of finding softness in harsh places, love and tenderness in trauma’s wake. Following the arc of two lovers’ lives, Laurence paints a series of nine vignettes with visceral detail: the skin’s first shock of desire, the tongue’s taste of blood, the stomach’s pit of longing. Sweeping and cinematic, the album pulls listeners into a universe where the past bleeds into the present, where the streets of Brooklyn melt into the open Oklahoma plains, and where nothing is ever truly forgotten.
