Empress Of and Rina Sawayama Want Your Undivided Attention on ‘Kiss Me’

The English countryside serves as the backdrop for Empress Of and Rina Sawayama‘s dreamy collaboration “Kiss Me.” Last week, the pair began their stretch on the road together as Sawayama continues the Hold The Girl Reloaded North American tour with Empress Of as support. And on their new single, much like on the stage, the two musicians want your undivided attention.

“Kiss me kiss me slowly slowly/Whisper whisper show me/Show me that i’m the one and only,” Empress Of sings on the chorus, lounging in a hazy dreamscape in the accompanying India Harris-directed video. Throughout the record, the singer makes promises she has ever intention on keeping, so long as the other party reciprocates. “If you send a flare, and I’ll be there/I’ll follow you right up the stairs,” she insists. “Just touch my lips and pull my hair/To come with you, I’d go anywhere.”

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When Sawayama makes her entrance on the record, she makes a few vows of her own, singing: “Runnin’ around, I’ve never felt/So full of air/And when I breathe, I’m breathin’ life/Into our wings.” In the video, she twists and twirls in the reflection of a mirror, the flares of her yellow gown swirling through the space.

Empress Of and Sawayama come together in the final moments of the song, cruising through the countryside dressed as angels with towering white wings. Behind them, a tree goes up in flames.

“Kiss Me” marks the first release from Empress Of since sharing the Save Me EP last year. She has four stops remaining on her tour run with Sawayama. Over the next two weeks, they will make stops in Denver, Seattle, Bentonville, and New Orleans.

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