It’s hard to have ambition in a place like Australia, a country rife with tall poppy syndrome. Aspire too highly and it’s likely that you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of some pretty harsh criticism. You can tell Melbourne band IV League have ambition––the group won a triple j Unearthed slot at Laneway 2017, and they’ve toured with Ali Barter and Bec Sandridge, musicians who clearly share their love of 90s rock revivalism. Now, they’re releasing “Superstar,” a dazzling new single (and video) that we’re premiering above.In “Superstar”’s dreamy video, written and directed by Meg Duncan, frontwoman Bella Venutti daydreams about living a life beyond her shitty job at the drive-ins. Recalling teen staples like Puberty Blues and The Outsiders, the video ends with Venutti driving off into the sunset, hopefully to achieve her dreams of becoming a superstar. Like their last couple of singles––the wonderful “Sylvia” and “Change Your Mind”––“Superstar” builds layers of 90s fuzz around a bulletproof hook.“[Superstar] is a song about feeling your potential bubbling beneath the surface but not quite being able to harness what you believe you have to offer,” Venutti says. “I wrote the beginnings of what would become Superstar in the throes of a really terrible hangover, the kind that makes you question what the hell you're doing with your life. I think it's easy to feel like you've lost touch with the heart of why you do what you do when you’re pursuing a creative dream, and your intentions can get muddy when there's a constant need and pressure to prove yourself.”“90s rock music is one of our greatest passions,” she says, “The lyrical motif of a "Superstar" is something I have found to be recurrent in the work of so many artists that I admire from Sonic Youth to Mazzy Star and even Oasis. It's a phrase that you don't hear thrown around very much in [terms of] aspiration these days.”Follow Noisey on Twitter.
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