‘Digital Girl’, the latest from Los Angeles–based Cherry Bomb, explores what it takes to be a star in today’s world.
‘Would you make a deal with the devil / if it made you a god?’ is the main question posed within the song. What are you willing to risk and what parts of yourself are you willing to give up to get what you want? Honest, vulnerable lyrics about not meeting ‘impossible’ standards and never being satisfied are delivered against an upbeat, danceable synth track, evocative of MARINA‘s Electra Heart. The punchy electronic beat and hypnotic glittering synth are reminiscent of the mixing of 80s pop icon Madonna, and modern influences like Chappell Roan. It’s an addictive sound that you can’t get enough of, the kind of song I’d kill to hear at the club.
The music video, directed by Matty Vogel is dazzling. A technicolor visual exploration of the face-paced, often overstimulating modern online culture, the difficulty of keeping up with it and the need to escape it. Shots of Cherry Bomb restless in a busy all-pink bedroom, recording herself on a video-camera and screaming at a bedazzled laptop are wedged between shots of her sitting on a hillside, surrounded by long grass gently swaying in the wind. Not wanting to be trapped within a box – or a screen – the video ends with Cherry Peel punching the camera and breaking free.
With glamorous visuals and an operatic voice, Cherry Bomb positions herself firmly as a pop diva. Defying modern standards and carving her own path of unapologetic self-expression whilst paying homage to the pop icons of the past.
Who doesn’t want to smash their phone in 2026 and be met with confetti to celebrate? In this hyper-digital day and age, it’s near impossible to not fall down the algorithmic rabbit hole of comparison spirals, curated perfection, and infinite doomscrolling. I wanted to visually represent the tension that exists between conforming to the pressure or rebelling against it and what it feels like when the two coincide.”
Mandy Lee ‘Cherry Bomb’
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