“JOHNNYSCOTT,” the new track from rising Los Angeles-based butch artist Rio Romeo, premieres today alongside an accompanying video. Written/produced by Rio, “JOHNNYSCOTT” marks their first new release of the year and showcases their lofty range as a musician, crafting deeply personal songs that fall somewhere between cabaret punk and alternative indie pop.
LISTEN TO/SHARE “JOHNNYSCOTT” HERE
WATCH/SHARE THE VIDEO HERE
Of “JOHNNYSCOTT,” Rio recalls, “This song is about a true, real guy; his name is not ‘Johnny Scott’ but it’s very close to it. I didn’t actually kill him but he was a total fucking groomer and had this reputation of only going after 19-year-old girls—and at one point I was one of them… Writing angry music was quite different for me because I was raised in a really conservative Christian environment. Anger is not something that women are allowed to feel and that’s been pretty drilled into me, even in my years out of those circumstances. It’s cathartic—it’s even gender-affirming—to let myself feel anger and to feel entitled to that emotion, after so many years of thinking, ‘He’s just kind of weird.’ It empowers me to feel ownership over a situation that I couldn’t do anything about.”
In addition, Rio will also take their live show back on the road this spring with a select run of sold-out headline dates. Kicking off on March 21, the run includes stops at New York’s Baby’s All Right, Los Angeles’ El Cid and Chicago’s Beat Kitchen. Full tour routing can be found below.
Rio Romeo is a force of nature whose open-book honesty and unbounded curiosity have made them a 2020’s cult hero. They’ve amassed more than 713,000 followers on TikTok and their breakthrough single, the longing “Nothing’s New,” has racked up more than 308 million streams on Spotify. With Rio’s new music, they’re taking stock of their whirlwind last five years, which have included cross-country relocations, a new romance, a horrifying accident that resulted in brain and hip injuries—and the support of a fanbase that’s helped them not just survive, but thrive.
Stay tuned for more from Rio Romeo to come as they’re gearing up to release new music later this year. The forthcoming music will be a companion piece to their 2022 EP Good God!, which contained their viral hit “Nothing’s New.”
