Work Text:
1. Karma feat. The Losers
baby, I kissed you goodnight eight times
you gonna invite me in on time number nine
or is it my karma to keep dancin in time
to the beat you spin me to, o lover mine?
It was GGK who talked about how 9 was the number of completion. Admittedly, we don't always understand her cosmic channeled messages, but this one felt right. And usually people do big things for their 10th, but we're thinking of that as a new chapter! So to close out this first chapter of Carole & Tuesday, we wanted to bring together our friends who've meant so much to us along the way.
So it only felt fitting we open the album with GGK & Pyotr, who we met through Mars’ Brightest. We got to watch them film the music video for “Daddy Saturn,” and watching GGK’s art direction and Pyotr’s choreography unfold in real time was magic. We hope we captured some of those gotta-dance vibes here!
So welcome to album number 9 friends. We’re happy to see y’all, whether you’re new or old friends. <3
2. Songbird Still feat. Flora
they say old dogs can’t learn
new tricks, but this bitch has got
a lotta life left in her.I’m a songbird still
songbird still,
hear me call the evenin’ tide
hear me call midnight’s end
hear me call the mornin’ sun
oh, I’m a songbird, songbird still
We are so honored Flora was willing to do this track with us! She rarely puts out new music, and because of the big gaps between releases, we love hearing how her voice changes with age. Aging’s not a bad thing! It just reveals different parts of ourselves. We hope as time goes on, our voices will change and evolve too. We can’t wait to hear what it sounds like. Hopefully we’ll sound just as good as Flora!
3. Triangle Complete feat. Crystal
I know we’d said we stay friends
But my new boyfriend likes you
A little too much
And I, I can’t,
Can’t say I mind.You plus me plus him makes three,
So let’s, so let’s, solve this dilemma.
I’ve got the bed turned down,
Fresh sheets, new sheets,
Silk pillowcase,
Incense you like,
Fire on high,
Come on over,
old flame of mine,
And let’s make this triangle complete.
So you can probably tell by now, this album is different from our usual fare. We challenged ourselves to do a track in the style of each artist we collaborated with. This particular one came out of a dare – we had a hater say our music made them want to put their clothes on instead of take them off. So we did our best to make a thumpy sultry track, and Crystal came in with some great suggestions on what the song could be about.
4. Prosperpine feat. Desmond
sanctify me, drink of my blood,
feast of my body, split me open
and i'll leave my legacy upon you
stained lips, stained fingertips
just like Prosperpine, oh, just like
Prosperpine
Desmond is so cool you know! Pushing the boundaries of gender like Bowie or Prince! The other thing all three are is sexy. We aren't young girls anymore, and we wanted to remind people to please not put us on pedestals. We're people, just like anyone else. We gotta pay our rent, take our clothes to the laundry, and date just like everyone else!
If you like this song, please send your fanmail to Desmond! We very selfishly want more music from them. Wondering how your voice can change from transition is stressful, and so is releasing a track after a long hiatus. But we felt all the same shivers and awe listening to Desmond’s voice now as we did before, and we hope we’ll hear even from them!
5. Nothing Better feat. Angela
I love mornings best,
burnt eggs, no makeup,
when I wake up with youMimosa Sundays, ain't got nothing
on the way I feel when I'm with you.
Although the news often pitted us as rivals, we have nothing but admiration for each other. Angela's strength and amazing talent has always pushed us to be our very best. She’s also very good at taking regular vacations to Earth, reminding us how important rest is! After one of her recent trips, she sent us some lyrics she'd written. We’re not surprised that song-writing is also a talent of hers! But also, the whistle notes she does in this track? Queen!
6. Let There Be Drums
This has long been a favorite interlude at live shows, and we’re happy to finally have an album version! We’re lucky to have a wonderful band who plays with us, and we could not do what we do without them. And we’re happy to showcase them here! If you listen closely, you can even hear Gus’ voice on the track too!
7. Loop feat. Amer Souleyman
lonestar jazz singer
I love the way I feel when
you’re playing on the radio.
If I called your name I know
you’d come on back
right here to me,
come here to me,
a mirror,
a mirror,
you’re the closest thing I got to
a mirror, a reminder of home
no matter how far we’ve been flung,
how far we’ve flown--We always said we’d make it big
and here we are two kids from earth with
three grammys, two emmys,
and one big ring looping our lives back together
I think people forget we are musical omnivores, we listen to a lot of different artists – not just Rie Fu, Vienna Teng, and Fatai, but Nitty Scott and Kendrick Lamar too. It’s also good to try different things; it makes us stretch different musical muscles and learn new and different things. And after we heard Amer’s album, Nnedi’s Rocketship, we really wanted to work with him and see what we could create. The sheer amount of genres he plays with, and the references he made? Whew!! (That’s one exclamation point from each of us!)
Writing lyrics like this was a lot of fun, and definitely a challenge! Carole especially enjoyed trying her hand at wordplay. You’ll also notice there’s no percussion on this track; Carole and Amer’s voice serve as the percussive force instead. Another creative joy was getting a peak into how he crafts his bars, talk about whoa! Between how energized we felt collaborating with him, and the beats he made, it made sense to bring him on as a producer for this album. And if that helped him get dual citizenship, well, that was an unexpected result. ;)
8. Father
father, father, I'm keeping the light on for you
hoping that this music can travel across wavelengths
reaching you wherever you are this starry night
father, father, tell me you're keeping your eyes on me
Sequels are kinda intimidating. People have often asked us about Mother, how it related to the political moment we were in, and if the titular mother was Tuesday’s. People will probably ask us the same question about this song. Nina Simone said “an artist’s duty is to reflect the times in which we live,” and artists we admire and look up to have done the same: Billie Holiday, iLe, Sa-Roc, the list goes on. And while we don’t claim the same greatness as them, we have been given the opportunity for many many people to hear our voice, and we want to use that gift wisely.
We always hope by telling our individual stories it connects with others – whether it’s about mundane things like karaoke with your friends, or life changing ones like immigration. So yes, this is a song about Earth, it’s a call for shutting down the detainment centers and prisons, and it's also a song to Carole's father.
9. Sister
When I’m broken down,
it’s to you I turn.
You always got my favorite cookies on hand
(and I’ve always got the kettle with your favorite brew)
What’s yours is mine,
(and what’s yours is mine).We might not have the same mother,
but girl, oh girl, you are the sister of my heart.
Sister of my heart, oh sister of my heart,
I would walk through fire for you,
and you would fly ‘cross galaxies for me.
I choose you (I choose you), each and every day
no matter the planet, no matter the star,
you are my shining star, sister of mine.
When we started, dreaming of one album was a big dream! Let alone nine of them! And here we are, at the end of album number nine! (*screams*)
Fame is funny. It’s broken up some bands, broken some people outright, but somehow we’ve made it through it all together, and we wanted to honor that.
Writing love songs is classic, and we did a number of them (some of them sexy!) on this album, but there aren’t many love songs about friendship. Who’d have thought two girls from very different worlds would cross paths and make a life-changing friendship? And our lives have definitely changed so much. We aren’t worrying about paying rent anymore for one! But even when life changes, changes us, and even if we stopped making music together (which we hopefully don’t!), we hope the love we have for each other will continue and grow.
And hopefully another nine albums will grow along with it. :)
I love you Carole. <3
I love you too Tuesday. :)
xoxo