On the brink of launching Gone Girl, her debut EP via Bonsound, Magi Merlin unveils No Ego, a riveting pop song that packs a punch which premiered via NYLON earlier today. Following the release of the bold rap track Free Grillz and the cathartic dance anthem Pissed Black Girl, No Ego is the third single off Gone Girl, due out on May 27th.
On No Ego, Magi Merlin embraces her light-hearted side. With this new song, the Montreal-based artist and her trusty collaborator Funkywhat transformed casual instrumentals into a cheeky pop banger. No Ego is something I like to describe as a positive existential crisis, explains the singer-songwriter. The track is written in the way that I process life. The lyrics read like an optimistic nihilist’s manifesto, using a Santigold-esque high-voltage mix of earnest remarks and irreverent ad-libs. Magi’s music is a clear celebration of the simple fact that we’re all just making it up as we go.
No Ego is available on all music services.
Pre-save Gone Girl now.
Along with her new single, Magi Merlin unveils an excerpt from a live session recorded at Massey Hall in Toronto earlier this year with Funkywhat on bass and Ronny Desinor on drums. Check out her live version of No Ego here.
In the past month, Magi Merlin has been taking Europe by storm with three showcases at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, followed by several tour dates supporting Noga Erez in cities such as Vienna, Milan, London and Paris. In July, she will also perform at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and at the Festival d’été de Québec. See the list below for all the dates.
About Gone Girl
After gaining a cult following with her previous EPs, Magi Merlin now presents Gone Girl, her most audacious effort to date. Drawing its influences from 90’s house, drum and bass, Motown and acid-flecked hip hop, the emerging indie singer draws us into her biting yet soulful and intricate universe, which she created alongside longtime producer Funkywhat. In her musical cauldron, the self-described “cheeky nihilist” combines jazzy scats with raps, and breakbeats to give us her take on generational angst, fake friends and casual racism. This EP, which at times feels like a mixtape with its interludes and subversion of genres, unveils Magi’s many hiddens facets; offering a selection of work that is energetic, funky and packed with confrontational and brooding observations. Whether it is to unleash years of bottled-up anger or to dazzle her fans with funkadelic dancefloor numbers, Magi Merlin holds on to the mic and presides queenlike over her ever-widening stage.
About Magi Merlin
Merlin grew up in Saint-Lazare, Canada. It's a place that may sound unfamiliar to most, but rest assured it is a lot closer to home than you realize. A wet dream created by people like Nixon in the 70s, a place for white folks, by white folks. The suburbs are the epitome of “normal” unless of course, you replace white with Black, straight with queer, that is when normalcy is challenged. This, amongst other subjects — such as the impact of capitalism on art, nepotism, and the duality of the relationship one has in taking pleasure to belong to those things while rejecting them all. That is what drives and inspires the creative universe behind Gone Girl – Merlin’s most audacious effort to date.
Tour dates
25/05/2022 Paris, FR - Badaboum (supporting Noga Erez)
30/05/2022 Brussels, BE - Orangerie (supporting Noga Erez)
31/05/2022 Cologne, DE - Luxor (supporting Noga Erez) SOLD OUT
01/06/2022 Amsterdam, NL - Tolhuistuin (supporting Noga Erez)
30/06/2022 Chicoutimi, QC - La Noce Festival
08/07/2022 Montreal, QC - Montreal Intl. Jazz Festival (supporting Sudan Archives)
16/07/2022 Quebec City, QC - Festival d'été de Québec
○Supporting Noga Erez
●Supporting Sudan Archives