ARIA-nominated, Australian artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Alice Ivy, the project of Annika Schmarsel, today shares a second preview of her forthcoming album, Do What Makes You Happy, teaming up with dream-pop gem Mallrat and London-based BBC Radio 1 darling Jelani Blackman for “Broke My Heart.”

Following on from the infectious funk of “Howlin’ At The New Moon feat. Mayer Hawthorne,” Alice Ivy reaches fresh sonic heights and puts a light spin on pop-soul and electronica to strengthen her sound and inject a new dynamism into her songwriting process. Leaning on the soulful pop charms of Mallrat and Jelani Blackman, “Broke My Heart” provides another serving of charisma and cadence that is indicative of her curatorial craft to dip into a sound that takes a slight swerve from anything else in her back catalogue.

Of the collaboration, Alice Ivy reveals “’Broke My Heart’ is one of my favorite songs from my new album but it took a while to come together. Mallrat and I frequently work together in my studio in Melbourne and we had this song that I really loved but we couldn’t quite get it flowing properly, so I decided to rest it for a little bit. A few months later I travelled to the UK to play some shows and I saw Jelani Blackman perform at Great Escape. He was so good! I went up to him afterwards and floated the idea of working on something. A little while later I sent him the demo with Mallrat and asked if he wanted to put a verse on it and he absolutely nailed it! I love how this song makes you feel like you’re floating, Mallrat and Jelani’s vocals are both so smooth. I’m super proud of it and so excited that it’s coming out and I can’t wait to hear the 808s on a festival PA”.

Mallrat extends this sentiment, sharing “Annika is one of my best friends and she’s so pretty and sexy and funny and one of my favorite collaborators! It always feels like we’re just hanging out whenever we’re in the studio, so things came together really naturally for ‘Broke My Heart.’”

Jelani Blackman also reveals “I’ve been into this tune from the second I heard it, was so easy to write for because I fully get that feeling of heartbreak, because sometimes it’s unintentional and you still love the person. Me and Alice have been chatting for a while, it’s sick collaborating on something together and also with Mallrat, big fans of them both. Always cool to work with people in such diff places of the world than me, especially on a song I like so much.”  

Photo Courtesy: Ian Laidlaw