Blondshell, the recording project of Sabrina Teitelbaum and our 2023 Rookie of the Year, has announced her sophomore album, If You Asked for a Picture (out May 2nd via Partisan Records). As a preview, Teitelbaum shared the single “T&A.” Watch the music video for the new song below.
If You Asked for a Picture arrives as the follow-up to Blondshell’s well-received self-titled debut. For the new set, the songwriter once again teamed up with producer Yves Rothman to craft hooky, grunge-tinged guitar tunes. The project takes its name from the 1986 Mary Oliver poem “Dogfish,” which explores the tricky nature of sharing personal stories — a topic Teitelbaum herself continues to grapple with.
“There’s a part of the poem that says: ‘I don’t need to tell you everything I’ve been through. It’s just another story of somebody trying to survive,’” Teitelbaum says. “Something I love about songs is that you’re showing a snapshot of a person or a relationship, and showing a glimpse into a story can be just as important as trying to capture the entire thing. Sometimes it’s even truer to the entire picture than if you tried to write everything down.”
As a glimpse into the new era of Blondshell, “T&A” sees Teitelbaum embrace Pixies-esque dynamics as she muses over a less-than-healthy relationship. The accompanying music video furthers the metaphor with three (extremely cute) rescue dogs.
“There’s a Rolling Stones song on Tattoo You called ‘Little T&A,’ and at one point in the song, he says ‘tits and ass,’ so I’m borrowing that,” she said of the new cut. “I think in music, it’s easy to see things as either more sexualized or more romantic, and I wanted this to be both. I see it as a love story — maybe not the most fairy tale love story — but I wanted it to feel like a really narrative song, where one thing leads to another and then you end up somewhere you didn’t expect. Normally that’s not how I write, but I wanted a song like that.”
Teitelbaum shared the first single of the album, “What’s Fair,” last August. In 2024, she also dropped the non-album single “Docket” with Bully and contributed to A24’s cover album of Stop Making Sense.
If You Asked for a Picture Artwork:
If You Asked for a Picture Tracklist:
01. Thumbtack
02. T&A
03. Arms
04. What’s Fair
05. Two Times
06. Event Of A Fire
07. 23’s A Baby
08. Change
09. Toy
10. He Wants Me
11. Man
12. Model Rockets