Olina’s “Newspaper Smell” is a goddamn dopamine trigger, and London’s concrete soul will spit it into the void July 24th. This is war paint and wire brushes, a sneering, sarcastic blow for anyone who ever stared at a ceiling at 3 AM wondering how adulthood became this cheap parody.
Olina’s no rookie. Nah. She’s been battle-hardened in the trenches: fronting The Zaramutas (those politically jagged Jazz Cafe lifers), welding nature into wearable art for her cult-status @drool_jewelry (yeah, Tyla rocks it, NYT drooled over it), and yeah, casually dissecting cancer data between takes. She’s the renaissance woman your impostor syndrome nightmares whisper about. “Newspaper Smell” is her solo detonation – a coming-of-age bomb hurled at dead-end gigs, the crushing banality of “making it,” and that first-gen immigrant ache of feeling perpetually temporary. It’s not pretty. It’s necessary.
This track kicks down the door with guitars that snarl like pissed-off alley cats and a rhythm section that feels like your last nerve fraying during a double shift. It’s deceptively upbeat – a sugar-rush pop veneer plastered over a foundation of pure, vibrating rage. Olina doesn’t just observe the dystopia; she lives in its dumpster fire. That line – “spent my summer hosing down rich guy’s vomit” – is a war report from the frontlines of late-stage capitalism. That useless degree gathering dust? “Couldn’t make me feel skilled.” Ouch. Right in the existential dread. The chorus is a goddamn hymn for the hollowed-out: “Does it matter what I do? I’m not a nihilist but I see the appeal in it.” It’s screaming into the abyss… while somehow making you wanna dance on its grave. Genius.
The DIY-style music video (dir. by Olina, filmed walking from Holloway to Hampstead Heath) is pure chaotic brilliance – think Skins meets Eternal Sunshine with a top-hatted birdcage for good measure. It’s vintage, dreamy, and brutally real, mirroring the song’s theme of being stuck “in between places.” No budget? No problem. This is rebellion served with a smirk.
Olina’s genius is her duality: jewellery designer by day, alt-rock prophet by night. “Newspaper Smell” channels her frustration into 3 minutes of guitar-driven catharsis. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt “temporary,” questioned their worth, or laughed just to keep from crying.
Pre-save this now. Play “Newspaper Smell” loud when it drops July 24. Then blast it at your soul-crushing job, your cramped flat, or that pretentious art pop-up. Olina’s here to remind you: feeling lost never sounded so damn good.