Austra

Austra, the pop project of Canadian vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis, returns with a powerful new show ahead of her upcoming album Chin Up Buttercup, due out November 14 via Domino.

Stelmanis, a classically trained musician and opera devotee with four previous albums and a Canadian Screen Award under her belt, has been singing dramatic arias about tragedy for years. But the emotional core of Chin Up Buttercup hits differently — rooted in her own experience of heartbreak after a sudden breakup in early 2020.

“I was completely blindsided... the person I loved woke up one day, told me she wasn’t happy, and I basically never saw her again,” Stelmanis shares.

The album’s title references the pressure to keep going — to “chin up” and smile — even when everything falls apart. Co-produced with Kieran Adams, the record draws sonic inspiration from the Eurodance of Madonna’s Ray of Light era, blending hypnotic dancefloor energy with elegant, heart-healing melodies.

Stelmanis turned her personal pain into poetic fragments in a cathartic Google Doc, which ultimately shaped the album’s raw and fearless lyrics. Its first single, “Math Equation”, captures that energy vividly:

“You said I needed my own friends / So I found them / Then you fucked them.”

Both a biting clapback and a bittersweet plea for connection, the song is steeped in the kind of sapphic chaos that threads its way through the entire album. “Math Equation” is out now, accompanied by a video directed by Trevor Blumas.

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