The
Australian artist’s debut EP grapples with toxic masculinity and shame. Recorded while he transitioned, listening back feels like time-travel
In the video for his 2020 single Miss Andry,
Sydney pop artist Flowerkid sits slumped in the corner of a
boxing ring. Drenched in red light, he’s scratched, bleeding and spent, fighting demons both invisible and ever-present. “Who’s to say that you still think of me?” he laments: “I’m just weak and miserable and only five foot three. How do I compare?”
It was for songs like this – deeply personal stories of identity, mental health and familial trauma, wrapped up in slickly produced bedroom pop – that Flowerkid (real name Flynn Sant) was pegged as one of Triple J’s Ones to Watch, and caught the attention of Billie Eilish’s manager, Danny Rukasin, who signed him for the US.