CMU Approved

Approved: Anna B Savage

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 20 February 2020

Pop songs about masturbation are almost a genre in their own right. Although they generally arrive on a gentle ripple of ambiguity. Newly signed to City Slang, Anna B Savage’s first single for the label, ‘Chelsea Hotel #3’, leaves no doubt.

“‘Wank more’ was my 2016 new year’s resolution”, she says. “It was part of my need to battle all the internalised bullshit I had ingested about women. I’ve spent the last few years actively unlearning things I spent my first twenty years passively being fed. Like how women are sexualised, but never allowed to be sexual, they are the object – sometimes even an object”.

“It took me until 21 to start masturbating, even longer to realise that sex was also for me – groundbreaking, I know – and that I had agency and could and should ask for things. It’s wildly frustrating and sad. Out of these thoughts came ‘Chelsea Hotel #3′”.

Referencing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Chelsea Hotel #2’ in its opening lines – just in case you were wondering – the track uses sparse instrumentation, with Savage weaving a story that seems to borrow from trad folk in structure, if not content. It’s gripping, enlightening and finishes with a satisfying (pun probably intended) pay-off.

“The song is a groan of boredom for the role of passive, mute, muse women, and a scream for female autonomy and pleasure”, she concludes.

Her first release since 2015’s excellent duo of EPs – ie ‘EP’ and ‘Live At Café Oto’ – ‘Chelsea Hotel #3’ is an exciting and confident return. Savage will be supporting Destroyer on tour in the UK in May, with more music from her William Doyle-produced debut album also on the way.

Watch the video for ‘Chelsea Hotel #3’ here:

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