Swiss avant-pop artist Maria Ria has made a debut single out of one of life’s cruellest betrayals: your own face giving you away.
‘Turning Red’ takes blushing, shame and the horror of suddenly becoming “a full-on tomato” and turns the whole thing into something defiant. Over stripped-back beats, mechanical clatter and a bassline that sounds like it’s revving at the lights, Maria Ria flips embarrassment into permission to take up space.
“I used to blush a lot and not in a cute way. I would turn into a full-on tomato. It made me feel like an open book, as if everyone could suddenly read what I was feeling.”
The song is the first taste of forthcoming album An Angel Turning Red, due in 2027 via Radicalis. Her explanation of the title is pleasingly efficient: “If an angel turns red, what does it turn into? A devil, voilà.”
Consider us converted.
Find Maria Ria on Website