Premiere: Kat King’s ‘Merry Go Rounds’ is pop protest music
Kat King. // photo by Lava Dreams
Today, we’re excited to premiere Kat King’s fourth single of 2025, “Merry Go Rounds.” It’s the final track in a four-song project “building toward a full-length album anticipated in 2026.”
The song sounds as though it took energy from its bassline and walked right into the end of summer all the way from the late ’90s, all chiming guitars and quiet vocals.
Says the band’s Derek Melies of the track, “‘Merry Go Rounds’ had the quickest idea-to-final recording turnaround of any Kat King song yet. After I sent the initial chord progression and melody idea to Kat in November 2024, the band came together and worked out the majority of the parts in a single evening session. It quickly jumped to the highest priority and was recorded in April 2025 alongside the previous single, ‘It’s in a Dream.'”
You can check it out below and read a Q&A with the band’s eponymous frontwoman about what Kat King has planned.
The Pitch: How do the singles you’ve released this year tie into the upcoming album?
Kat King: Every single we’ve released this year has been part of a new era for us. We haven’t talked about it much, but last year we parted ways with our former independent label we were signed with and have been operating completely independently since. We’ve also been working with a new producer which has really helped us explore our sound and how to write better together.
It’s given a lot of space for reflection on the kind of music we want to make, what works and doesn’t work for us both as people and as a band, and what our goals are. These explorations have come through both in my lyrics and in our songwriting as a whole. We knew these four songs displayed the different corners of genres and themes that we’re delving into, almost at their most extremes, and the additional songs we’ve been writing for this album are with the intention to tie it all together.
What does the songwriting and recording process entail?
Our songwriting has become much more collaborative over the past couple of years. There are a handful of songs in this batch (including “Merry Go Rounds”) whose roots started from guitar parts that Derek sent me over a voice memo. If one sticks with me, I work on it until I craft a whole song out of it.
From there, I typically demo it out with any additional ideas I have and send it to the band. We’ll take that and work on it all together in John’s basement, throwing out different ideas until we get it to somewhere we like. There are still times where I’ll demo out an entire song idea myself and the structure works as is or I demo out a song and we don’t finish the structure until we’re in the studio.
When we’re gearing up for recording, we’ll demo everything out DIY style, then bring all of the stems to Isaac (our producer). He’ll do some pre-work, and once when we’re in the studio together, we explore structure changes if they’re needed from our demos. Once we’re happy with the structure, we actually record it all. Daniel lays down the drums, John lays down the bass, and from there we just kind of go in the order that makes sense and throw additional ideas in along the way. Having the demos ahead of time is a huge help for studio efficiency – hot tip!
Was it weird getting political on this new single or did it feel natural?
Oh, it felt very natural but that’s also because the lyrics are fairly vague. I think if the lyrics were more upfront and specific, I’d probably have a healthy amount of fear with it. I was (and always am) fed up with how much politics is steered by money and fear-mongering.
When I wrote this song, we were in the middle of the election and both parties felt so bleak and full of bullsh*t. The lyrics are really geared towards a specific kind of person/style of campaigning over a specific party. I pulled from both my feelings towards politicians and people in my life who talk in circles and refuse to take accountability. The song is vague intentionally because of this. If I wrote it now, I’d have so much more to say. Maybe that will come in a future song?
Kat King opens for Yoke Lore at Warehouse on Broadway on Wednesday, September 17. Details on that show here. They’re also at the Plaza Art Fair on Saturday, September 20, and their 3rd Annual Zombie Prom is on Saturday, October 25, at The Ship. You can find more show details on their website.
