STG News
Electro-pop powerhouse artist Dragonette, aka songwriter and producer Martina Sorbara, has returned with her new full-length album Twennies via BMG.
Discussing album title, Sorbara mused, “The word ‘twennies’ comes up in a couple songs on the record and felt like a theme that was taking dominance. I think it has to do with a kind of reflection on this moment, right now, the 2020’s versus me in MY 20’s. What do I have left from that time in my life, what is still with me, and precious and valuable, and what have I lost or intentionally left behind. As for the colloquial spelling, I feel like it captures a sort of throw-away nature of time, but at the same time an intimacy with the passage of time.”
Regarding the track “T-Shirt” she added, “This song came together so fast that I can barely remember the process of writing it. Every songwriter has had the experience of leaving the studio to get a drink or take a pee and inadvertently coming back with one of the missing keys to the song. I have a strong memory of that with the chorus of this song. But I literally have no memory of writing the verses. It’s like they pre-existed the session. Every song writer has that experience as well. The result is feeling like you just got given a present, out of nowhere, and it’s not even your birthday. I love this song for its lush cuddle of warmness while lyrically it most definitely does not want to cuddle.”
On Twennies, Sorbara chose to work with one creative partner for the entire project—the Los Angeles-based producer Dan Farber (Dizzee Rascal, Lizzo). The two artists spent several weeks together holed up in Sorbara’s Toronto studio, where they wrote the majority of the record. “I’ve never concentrated on working on an album like that; just living and breathing this one thing,” she shares.
Twennies marks a full-circle moment for Sorbara. “It’s a true hybrid of my original influences as a child and what I’ve learned along the way. It feels so representative of my musical journey.” She adds, “It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done. I’m so proud of it.”
With a career spanning over fifteen years, Dragonette has scored numerous global hits including “Pick Up the Phone,” “Let it Go,” “Tokyo Nights” with Digital Farm Animals and Shaun Frank, “Outlines” with Mike Mago, “Slow Song” with The Knocks, and the chart-topping “Hello” with Martin Solveig, which garnered a JUNO Award win for ‘Dance Recording of the Year’ and returned to the Billboard Dance Charts just last year. Collaborating with the world’s biggest DJs including Martin Garrix, Basement Jaxx, Kaskade, Galantis, and more, Dragonette’s musical diversity knows no bounds, and as a songwriter her credits include Keith Urban, Cyndi Lauper, Pretty Sister, and Carly Rae Jepsen, among others.
Creative versatility shines across Dragonette’s four acclaimed studio albums, including Galore (2007), which earned Dragonette a JUNO nomination for ‘Breakthrough Group of the Year’, the JUNO-nominated Fixin To Thrill (2009), the JUNO-nominated Bodyparts (2012), and 2016’s Royal Blues. With global headlining credits too numerous to list, Dragonette has also supported the likes of Duran Duran, New Order, Ke$ha, and Miike Snow, and amassed major festival credits, playing to thousands of fans at Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival, Glastonbury, and Lollapalooza.
With Twennies Dragonette moves into the newest chapter of her illustrious career, looking forward with more wisdom, experience, and confidence than ever before, and creating her best work to date.