Introducing: Coupdekat with new single ‘Violet’
Caution: cute but bites. Coupdekat is the pop maximalist leading the London’s club revival, and today we introduce her to the Toast roster with her new single ‘Violet’. Coloured by neon, shopping trips at Claire’s Accessories, iPod Touch selfies and BBM chats, she captures a 2010s optimism before the bubble bursts. Beneath the thrill of the digital rush lurks the feeling of being overexposed, a performer for an imagined audience. Made in NYC and touched by its underground energy, ‘Violet’ is an underwater trip-hop track super-charged with hangxiety.
Speaking on the story behind the track, Coupdekat shares: “When I was in New York, I was going out every night but I was so focused on making music. No matter what was happening the night before, I would be up at 5am to go to the studio. I wanted to make the soundtrack for after the afterparty. Me and my producer were listening to downtempo trip-hop, a lot of Portishead, Bjork and Madonna’s Ray of Light, and because it’s quite a grimy city we were drawn to noise and distorted basslines.
I wrote the lyrics when I was hungover – I can’t make music when I’m completely fine because there’s no chance of my brain coming up with something unexpected. I’ve made a few tracks when I’ve had a terrible hangover, and because something is off the music reaches a new kind of extremity. It’s about that state of indecision and paralysis when you just want to sink into the sofa; the morning after with a comedown. It’s interesting to make music in different states of consciousness.”
Coupdekat’s sound is a pop sugar rush drawing on an internet’s worth of influences and swayed by the attitude of Lily Allen, M.I.A and Basement Jaxx. Her instinct for hooks that get under your skin, addictive melodies and shape-shifting production which pushes pop to its extremes has elevated further than ever with ‘i still think about the band’ which commenced a new era. Combing through her Facebook archives, the artwork is a selfie taken with a friend at Claire’s Accessories complete with neon nerd glasses: an evocation of nostalgia while the track, effervescent and eruptive, stares down an unstable future.
Emerging in 2021, Coupdekat became a defining figure in the UK pop scene through co-founding the female and gender-inclusive collective Loud LDN. Her 2026 releases are the successor to the electronic pop experimentalism of 2025’s EP BLOW HER UP AND SHE’LL BURST and the fizzy 5-track adventure the world she created / inside of her pocket*. This year, Coupdekat is ready to fill the floor with pop music that captures your memories and wildest daydreams.
‘Violet’ Artwork