MisterWives frontwoman Mandy Lee steps out solo as Cherry Bomb, turning grief into glitter-soaked pop on a debut album set by one rule: all bangers, no ballads.
Picture The Birth of Venus, then dump a generous amount of glitter on it. That’s the energy behind Cherry Bomb, the Los Angeles-based solo project of Mandy Lee, who you’ll know from MisterWives. Her debut solo album, The Pursuit of Pleasure, lands on 13 November, and you can listen to it here.
All bangers, no ballads
Lee wrote the record during a stretch of emotional struggle and dramatic life changes. Her refuge was big pop anthems, big dance numbers and the glam of the diva within, so she set herself a songwriting challenge: no ballads allowed. “Viva la diva!” is the unofficial motto.
“Joy is how we survive grief, and this project explores what it means to move through pain while still finding pleasure,” she says. The album’s muses are The Birth of Venus, Eve and “the little rebellious firecracker who never shied away from her muchness”.
The centrepiece is “Oxymoronic”, which plays with polarity to turn sorrow into something you can dance to. “Healing is anything but linear,” says Lee, “and dancing in the discomfort of those juxtaposing feelings has been the way through the messy process of knowing that what’s best doesn’t always feel the best.”
The full tracklist: Never Be Me (M★ther★cker), Curtain Call, Crash!, Digital Girl, Oxymoronic, Sorry You’re Not Sorry, No Hard Feelings, Cocoon, P.O.P., 3:33 and Myriad Reflector. You can also watch the official video for “Crash!”.
The road to the record
Cherry Bomb arrived earlier this year with “Never Be Me (M★ther★cker)”, followed by the Y2K-tinged synth pop of “Digital Girl”. Then came the disco pop of “Sorry You’re Not Sorry”, with its feather boas and ballroom spirit, and “Myriad Reflector”, named after the original term for the disco ball. Critics have noticed. FLOOD Magazine likened her “digital-age operatics” to Caroline Polachek, while Blurred Culture said, “It pounds. It moves. It begs to be played loudly.”
Live dates
Two release shows mark the occasion, and both are sold out. The first is at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles on 18 November, with details here. Her homecoming solo debut follows at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY on 7 December, with more information here.
If your week needs a shot of glitter and catharsis, press play on The Pursuit of Pleasure and turn it up loud, as the album intends.
