Swedish singer-songwriter and record producer Karin Dreijer shares the first new non-remix single since their second studio album Plunge, released in 2017. The Dance and Electronic track “What They Call Us” is accompanied by a music video written and directed by Martin Falck.
The clip features Dreijer wearing a suit and a tie at a workplace crammed with fax papers, spoiled leftover food, and old office equipment. Fever Ray is first seen typing in front of a computer, and then wandering across dimmed light hallways. At one point, they are seen drowned under a pile of papers near the photocopy machine.
“What They Call Us” is about breaking free from spiritual imprisonment. The lyrics describe the feeling of being stuck in a recurring cycle, “Did you hear what they call us?/ Did you hear what they said?/ My plan was flexible/ Don’t get stuck anywhere/ Can I just hold you for a minute/ Some things just ain’t easy to repair/ The person who came here was broken/ Can you fix it, can you care?”
Fever Ray wrote and co-produced “What They Call Us” with their brother Olof Dreijer, who used to form part of the band The Knife. In 2019, the duo reunited for a remix swap with Björk. The icelandic singer-songwriter took on “This Country Makes It Hard to Fuck” and The Knife covered her alternative dance song “Features Creatures.”
Watch the Official Video of “What They Call Us” on YouTube: