News

Perfume Genius stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday night perform “It’s a Mirror” off his newly-released album, Glory.

Mike Hadreas began the performance on a raised, rotating platform in a sprawled out position not too dissimilar from Glory’s album cover. He then rose and performed a faithful and moving rendition of the song, which we named as one of our Songs of the Week upon release and highlighted Blake Mills’ dynamic production. As the song’s thrilling key change set in in the climax, Hadreas belted a final passionate chorus, eventually falling to his knees. Watch the performance below.

Get Perfume Genius Tickets Here

The performance on Fallon arrives as Perfume Genius gears up for a major North American tour kicking off next month, which kicks off with a San Diego show on May 9th and continues with an appearance at Los Angeles’ Just...

With each of his albums as Perfume Genius, Mike Hadreas shakes out his pent-up desires—to love, to express queerness, or simply to dance. On his seventh studio album, Glory, he dials back the climactic pop of 2017’s No Shape and 2020’s sprawling Set My Heart on Fire Immediately in favor of subtler compositions that lurch and wobble over layers of alt-rock and orchestral instrumentation. From this ornate environment, Hadreas delivers tactile poetry and pained self-examinations, extracting catharsis from isolation and anxiety.

Hadreas has, in recent years, displayed a penchant for the baroque, and his lush and eclectic songs have conveyed a romantic grandiosity. When Glory’s opening track, “It’s a Mirror,” kicks off with acoustic guitar, it’s not just a deft stylistic heel turn, but a shift from extravagance to a grungy groundedness befitting the song’s claustrophobic lyrics. “It’s a siren, muffled crying/Breaking me down soft and slow,...

Perfume Genius has teamed up with New Zealand singer-songwriter Aldous Harding for a new song, “No Front Teeth,” accompanied by a stunningly strange music video.

The track, which will appear on Perfume Genius’ upcoming album, Glory, is a multi-faceted epic, filled with sudden tempo changes and atmospheric swings from tender folk ballad to resonant alt-rock glory. The video, directed by Cody Critcheloe, not only matches this potent mixture, but injects it with a fresh strain of visual mayhem.

The clip starts with Perfume Genius’ Mike Hadreas splayed out on an...

A month after announcing Perfume Genius’ new album, Glory, Mike Hadreas is back with the record’s latest single: “No Front Teeth,” featuring Aldous Harding. Watch the cinematic video for the new song below.

The multi-phased tune starts out restrained and quite pretty, with acoustic guitars and swirling synth pads. Then, shortly after Harding joins the fun, it explodes into an all-out rocker. From there, it’s a wild back and forth between the two tones. It’s pretty fucking cool. The music video matches the manic energy, as the slowness gives way to a waffle party and… uh… well, you’ll see.

Get Perfume Genius Tickets Here

“No Front Teeth” is the second single to arrive from Glory, following “It’s a Mirror,” which debuted last month along with the album’s announcement. Writing about “It’s a Mirror” in Consequence’s Song of the Week roundup, Paolo Ragusa...

Perfume Genius is back. Today, Mike Hadreas has announced his latest album, Glory, along with a run of North American tour dates. He has also released a new music video for the album’s lead single, “It’s a Mirror.”

Due on March 28th via Matador, Glory sees Perfume Genius reunite with producer Blake Mills for what Hadreas described as his “most directly confessional” album to date, tackling themes of fame, isolation, and aging, especially focusing on how gay culture addresses one’s older years. “There’s a map for the first part,” he explained in a statement. “There’s books about hustlers and drinking and drugs and going out. And then, after that, there’s not a lot.”

Get Perfume Genius Tickets Here

After the arrival of Glory in March, Hadreas will hit the road for a North American tour kicking off on May 12th in Healdsburg, California, followed by dates in Phoenix,...

TRAИƧA: Selects, a collection of five tracks from the forthcoming compilation concept album, TRAИƧA, has arrived, featuring new songs from Sade Adu (her first in six years), L’Rain, André 3000, and more.

Released via the activist and music production non-profit Red Hot, TRAИƧA will be a musical celebration of trans and non-binary people, featuring over 100 artists. Sade’s contribution, a track titled “Young Lion,” arrives as a loving composition for her son, Izaak, a trans man. Stream it below.

Other new songs include L’Rain’s tribute to Anohni featuring the NYC Trans Oral History Project, “People Are Small / Rapture,” and a new ambient composition from André 3000 titled “Something Is Happening and I May Not Fully Understand But I’m Happy to Stand for the Understanding.”

Also featured on TRAИƧA: Selects are two previously-released singles: “Ever New” by Sam Smith and Beverly Glenn-Copeland and a version of “I Would Die...

Perfume Genius’ remarkable 2014 breakout album Too Bright turns 10 years old this fall, and to celebrate, Mike Hadreas is releasing a new crystal-clear vinyl reissue of the album. What’s more, he’ll be playing the album in full for a handful of US tour dates.

The 10th anniversary Too Bright tour will take place across six dates on the East and West coasts. Kicking off in Washington D.C. on September 16th, Perfume Genius will bring the full album play-through to Brooklyn, Woodstock, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The brief run will conclude with a pair of dates in Los Angeles’ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on September 26th and 27th. See the full list of shows below.

Get Perfume Genius Tickets Here

Tickets for Perfume Genius’ Too Bright tour dates will go on-sale for the general public on Friday, June 7th at 10:00 a.m. local time, with...

Ben Mendelsohn reunites with Bloodlines showrunner Todd A. Kessler for Apple TV+’s The New Look premiering on February 14, 2024. The trailer for the drama inspired by true events features Mendelsohn as designer Christian Dior and Oscar winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) as Coco Chanel.

The cast of the 10-episode season includes Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as Catherine Dior, two-time Oscar nominee John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong, Emily Mortimer (Don’t Look Deeper) as Elsa Lombardi, Claes Bang (Bad Sisters) as Spatz, and eight-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close as Carmel Snow.

“The New Look centers on fashion designers Christian Dior, Coco Chanel and their contemporaries as they navigated the horrors of World War II and launched modern fashion,” reads Apple TV+’s synopsis. “Set against the World War II Nazi occupation of Paris, The New Look focuses on the pivotal moment in the 20th century when the French city led...

Like most genre labels, “art pop” is fluid and ambiguous, encapsulating a vast array of microgenres, from the foundational proto-punk of the Velvet Underground to the futuristic electronica of FKA twigs. Two contemporary acts that fall under the wide umbrella of art pop, Weyes Blood (a.k.a. Natalie Mering) and Perfume Genius (a.k.a. Mike Hadreas), share an interest in the romantic grandeur of acoustic ballads. But their disparate stage presences highlight the breadth and boldness that define pop music, and their performances at Los Angeles’s Greek Theatre last night were at turns electrifying and celebratory.

Much like Mering, Hadreas’s early work was largely piano-based and elegiac. With 2014’s Too Bright, however, he transformed into a strutting rock star, a persona he wholeheartedly embodies on stage. With his longtime boyfriend, Alan Wyffels, on keys, Hadreas kicked off his opening set with the invigorating “Your Body Changes Everything,...

Many emojis approved last fall came into widespread usage this year, with the new faces proving especially popular. The smiling, holding-back-tears face conveyed our most sentimental selves, while the melting face spoke to a feeling of disintegration in the face of overwhelming reality. The hand-over-mouth and peeking-through-fingers faces were perfect for moments of shock and horror.

But, in the end, no emoji was better suited for the ups and downs 2022 than the saluting face. Everyone from an ex-pro Call of Duty gamer to a Berkeley City Council member to musician...

Music has long been intertwined with the spirit of Pride and pro-lgbtq+ movements, from obvious selections like Diana Ross’ disco banger “I’m Coming Out” to the confrontational queercore of groups like Pansy Division. During Pride month, the music is usually a mix of party and protest, combining the sensual pleasures of classic disco and dance music with potent messages of individuality, resilience, and hope. Even though Pride festivals aren’t happening as planned this year, there’s nothing to stop us from connecting ourselves to that history. In this...