With vocal elements similar to Kate Bush, Gwen Stefani and Gloria Estefan as well as punchy, stabby '80s-flavoured synths lines throughout, Kids At Midnight latest single - 'Boys Like You' - is a bright, bubbly pop-licious serving of indie electo-pop that'll have you dancing in your socks like Tom Cruise in 'Risky Business'.
The solo project of singer-producer-DJ Jane Elizabeth Hanley, Kids At Midnight's 'Boys Like You' manifested from an old, high-school memory. "'Boys Like You' actually started as a flashback memory," Jane says.
"It was so thick and painful and hilarious and pastel coloured. I was driving the coast road home to my small town, and a moment from high school just lightening bolted into my brain, and I got that feeling in my stomach like ‘oh god I thought I’d repressed this memory’ haha.
"It was like watching a movie of my teens in my head and I had to get it out. It all happened: writing about my crush down in my diary, us being friends but me never ever daring to tell him, a new girl coming to school and my crush falling in love with her and telling me about it and me burying it allll waaaaaay down.
"And just trying to be the girl the boys fell in love with but they never did… finding solace in maths class because that's where I excelled. But there was this one boy who got so annoyed I always answered the questions before him, he actually turned around one day and yelled at me to shut up.
"I tried one day to pretend I didn't know the answers in the hopes they would like me more… and my Mum consoling me with 'never try to be less than you are to impress anyone, because anyone who wants you to be less than you are is not worth who you are… and you will look back and wonder why you ever wasted one tear on a boy from high school'.
"It really was this triumphant '80s movie moment spawn from devastating teen heartbreak.
"From there I just started playing with some chords and the chorus just spewed out in one piece, because I was retelling a story I was already watching in my head.
"I wrote and produced it on Ableton in my spare room studio. It's one of my favourites from the album because the groove is definitely an homage to an '80s montage dance-it-out moment and it feels like a little mini-anthem I would send back to teen Jane to tell her things get better."
With 'Boys Like You' released tomorrow, Kids At Midnight has shared a stream of the song with scenestr to share with you. Winning days.
