paint me like one of your fav american girls
She built an entire sonic universe alone — every song written, recorded, and produced by herself. Then Tove Lo and Flume came calling. What happened next is one of the most compelling origin stories in independent music right now.
In September 2023, Tove Lo and Flume posted an open call on Instagram for new artists. They received thousands of demos. Out of all of them, googly eyes was the one. That single fact tells you everything you need to know about where this project sits — not at the fringes of the industry, but at its most exciting intersection: an artist who was already building something extraordinary entirely on her own terms, suddenly given the space to crack it open and let two of the most adventurous producers in modern music add to it.
The result is paint me like one of your fav american girls — a five-track EP on Pretty Swede, Neon Gold, and Virgin that marks the first time googly eyes has ever opened her world to outside collaborators. It is a significant moment, and it sounds like one.
googly eyes — stylized entirely in lowercase — is an electronic pop auteur who lives in a sonic world entirely of her own making. Her 2024 debut Starlet EP established her voice: glitchy, technicolor, poetic songs of the heart, built from vocal production, electronic textures, and lyricism that is both raw and precise. Breakout singles “Mid-Leap,” “Internet Star,” and “Waste of Conversation” introduced an artist who was already operating at a level that demanded attention.
She closed 2025 with “Jesus and John Wayne” — a collaboration with Joy Oladokun and August Ponthier that landed on NPR’s 125 Songs of 2025. That is not a lucky break. That is an artist consistently delivering at the highest level, building toward something larger with every release.
“This project was me cracking open the shell of goog that had protected me — and letting other people contribute. To build something together.” — googly eyes
The EP’s lead moment is “Feel Like I Died” — born in the very first session with Tove Lo and Flume. When Tove asked how she was doing, googly eyes answered honestly: “I feel like I died.” She was awestruck, in the same room as two of her favorite artists, knowing they wanted to make music with her. She turned that feeling — awe, reverence, wonder — into a track. That is the instinct of a great songwriter.
Across all five tracks the EP blends warped electronic textures, intimate pop melodies, and what googly eyes calls “soft-focus vulnerability.” The collaboration with Tove Lo and Flume did not flatten her sound into something more commercial — it expanded it. The hazy, emotionally charged quality that defined the Starlet EP is still fully present, just given more room to breathe and more hands shaping it.
Pretty Swede Records — Tove Lo’s independent label, whose prior releases outside of Tove’s own work include nothing — signed googly eyes as their first outside artist. Neon Gold, whose history includes early releases from Charli XCX, MARINA, Christine and the Queens, and Ellie Goulding, co-signed alongside Virgin. That is an extraordinary level of institutional belief for an artist still building her audience.
The EP arrives alongside googly eyes’ first-ever North American tour, supporting Ashnikko across major markets. The run is mostly sold out — a signal of just how quickly this audience has grown. Key dates still available include Washington DC at The Anthem on May 9 and Miami Beach at The Fillmore on May 6. If you have the chance to catch this tour, take it.
