Today, dark-pop darling DeathbyRomy revisits the confident gut punch of a song, “KOBK,” off her debut album, Hollywood Forever — the first official collaboration between herself and her bandmates Jayden Hammer and Cheska Zaide — with a brand-new music video. Across the whole LP, which arrived in April, Romy tears through the facade of Los Angeles, and the music industry — sharing the harsh realities of her beloved hometown, and all that it entails. But the trio to come together on this song, in particular, feels fitting — its message certainly holds weight for all three women, who’ve universally met certain challenges coming up in their chosen career path.
“KOBK” came together at the tail end of Hollywood Forever, the very last addition to the album before it was sent out into the ether of mixing and mastering. “I realized as the album was wrapping up that a really important message was missing from the story I was painting throughout the project.” Romy tells AP, explaining, “It was a necessary and overdue ‘f*ck you’ to my first manager, and some other men I’ve unfortunately had to deal with in this industry while navigating being an artist alone since I was only 16.
Read more: AFI’s new album Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… explores life in a dystopian world
“I didn’t have rich parents with industry connections to help me get my foot in the door,” she continues. “I put myself and my music out there online, and I was found by someone who really supported and believed in me — but who unfortunately took advantage of their power and position over me, as an older individual who seemed to know what I needed to do to reach success…”
Some might stuff it down, crumple under the pain and pressure of said experience — but Romy has never been one to stay down for long, or stay quiet. Rather, she got even louder, understanding how unfortunately nonunique that situation is, and has been, for emerging artists. And understanding her responsibility, personally and socially, to reclaim agency. “It’s unfortunately a story told too many times, yet not enough to breed change. With this album, I got really raw, really real, and really unapologetic. It was necessary for myself, my healing, and the integrity and honesty I feel I owe my fans,” she proclaims. “Bringing on the girls in my band felt natural and essential. I knew, as fellow female artists, and just as women first, they definitely had things to say and speak on in regards to the themes discussed in the song. It’s become one of my favorites to perform and definitely one of the songs the crowd reacts to the most.”
Hammer, one-third of the band, carries the same take-no-prisoners attitude, and the same dedication to facial piercings. The heavy musician and TikTok star — the fierce guitar player who has gone viral for putting a metal spin on sugar-coated pop songs — is a force to be reckoned with, though she, too, had to fight her way there. “I feel empowered and grateful to have written such a song with some of the most talented people I know,” she shares with us. “Banding together to make our voices heard is more necessary than ever when the current status quo is pushing women to isolate and become silent and subservient.”
“This was the first heavy song I ever worked on. I remember being super nervous about it,” says Zaide, who rounds out the alternative trio. Zaide’s solo project, Earth to Cheska, fuses indie-pop with an almost Midwest emo sensibility, though alongside Hammer and Romy, she’s proven to have heavier chops. “Standing with Romy and Jayden, two of the most powerful women I know, onstage for the past two years brought me so much confidence to speak my mind. And that’s what we all did in ‘KOBK.’ If it’s a man’s world, this song proves that together, girls can not only survive it, but completely take it over.”
Watch the video for “KOBK” below.