Following a huge 2024 that saw them rack up four ARIA Awards, sell out shows around the world, and land their first Billboard Hot 100 entry, Sydney’s Royel Otis dropped their new single “car”, a melancholic, melody-rich track that blends jangly guitars with intimate lyricism.
To celebrate their latest release, the band will return to Australia in July for two intimate and exclusive fan events: Saturday July 19th at Melbourne’s Punters Club and Sunday July 20th at Vic on The Park in Sydney. Fans who pre-order hickey from the Royel Otis’ AU Store and enter here will go into the running to win a double pass to the exclusive shows.
The song premiered overnight as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record and sees the band leaning further into their gift for turning aching emotions into effortlessly catchy indie gems.
“car” was co-written with powerhouse collaborators Blake Slatkin (Gracie Abrams, Omar Apollo) and Omer Fedi (Lil Nas X, the Kid LAROI), and serves as the latest preview of their second album, hickey, due out on August 22nd via OURNESS / Capitol Records. The song captures the quiet devastation of a goodbye in motion: “Yeah I’ll meet you at the car on the corner / but we know it’s gotta change sometime.”
The band’s album announcement follows the release of the record’s first single, “moody”, which was initially teased at a sold-out show in Los Angeles in May.
In a Rolling Stone AU/NZ interview earlier this year, Pavlovic opened up about the band’s collaborative and fluid approach to songwriting. “We’ll start working on some stuff in early January. We’ve got a little bit of time away to just work on some music,” he said. “I don’t know how anyone has an actual schedule or a routine of how they write songs. We just work together, bounce ideas off each other. We like showing each other ideas, demos that we’ve recorded at home or something like that. And then we work from there.”
Maddell added: “The process… it’s always different. It’s like building a cake.”
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That unstructured chemistry has served them well. Since first breaking out with early releases like “Oysters In My Pocket” and “Sofa King,” Royel Otis have continued to ascend at a dizzying pace. Their Like A Version cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor” became a viral hit, charting at #2 on triple j’s Hottest 100 and hitting the top of the Billboard Alternative charts. Their ethereal Cranberries cover of “Linger” also earned them their first Billboard Hot 100 hit.
Their 2024 debut LP PRATTS & PAIN marked a breakthrough moment, leading to sold-out tours across Australia, North America and Europe, multiple festival slots at Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Governors Ball, and a sold-out homecoming at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. The duo were the most-nominated act at the 2024 ARIA Awards and took home four, including Best Group and Best Rock Album.
While hickey was announced earlier this year, “car” gives fans their clearest taste yet of what to expect from the full record—a reflective, emotionally open collection of songs that hold space for heartache, humour and healing, wrapped in the band’s unmistakable indie polish.
“car” is out now. hickey is out Friday August 22nd via OURNESS / Capitol Records.
Royel Otis Fan Events
Saturday, July 19th – Punters Club, Melbourne
Sunday, July 20th – Vic on The Park, Sydney
Pre-order hickey from the Royel Otis AU Store for a chance to win tickets.
