Louis Baker is back with his second single of the year.
“Trouble”, out today, finds the soulful artist trying to retain a sense of hope while battling the weight of worry and exhaustion, transforming personal turmoil into a universal anthem,
“I really leaned into my blues influences in the lyric with this one, and in many ways it’s a blues song at its core,” Baker says.
“Looking back, I don’t think I fully realised the amount of mental stress I was going through until after the song was finished,” he admits.
“Music has always been an outlet for me, and writing this helped put things into perspective.”
Baker assembled a who’s who of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington musical talent for the song: you can hear Louisa Williamson (flute), Tristan Carter (violin), Leo Coughing (organ, clav, and Wurlitzer), and Riki Gooch (congas) on “Trouble”, as well as, of course, Baker (vocals, guitars, and bass).
Rolling Stone AU/NZ is proud to exclusively premiere the accompanying music video today.
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Filmed across some of Baker’s hometown’s most iconic live music venues, including Meow Nui and Bedlam & Squalor, the clip captures Baker moving through familiar corners of Wellington on a stormy winter’s night, brilliantly bringing the emotional centre of his song to life.
Watch the music video, which was helmed by award-winning director and producer Shae Sterling, above.
“Trouble” is the latest taste of Baker’s forthcoming album, slated for release later this year.
It follows his previous 2026 single “All We Need”, which received playlist support from both Spotify and Apple Music, not to mention radio airplay in Europe, the UK, US, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand. “All We Need” also debuted at No. 5 on the Hot 40 Singles Chart in his home country.
Before “All We Need”, Baker was a guest on “Who You With”, a Katchafire song, earlier this year.
Louis Baker’s “Trouble” is out now.
