NESSA BARRETT UNVEILS DANGEROUSLY SEDUCTIVE NEW EP ‘JESUS LOVES A PRIMADONNA’
Rising star Nessa Barrett releases her highly anticipated new EP Jesus loves a primadonna — listen HERE. Out now on Warner Records, the eight-song set is an immersive plunge into toxic romance and staggering vulnerability set to a hypnotic mix of noirish rock, trip-hop textures, and deeply haunting vocals. The project arrives alongside the cinematic, dark-fantasy love story music video for “Buffalo 66,” starring The Neighbourhood’s frontman Jesse Rutherford.
“Jesus loves a primadonna is all about love,” says Nessa of her latest work. “It’s beauty and demise. The villain origin story of every woman who has loved until she cannot love anymore.”
To ring in the EP’s arrival, Nessa is throwing a series of intimate shows — the live unveiling of Jesus loves a primadonna, dress code: “Vamp Romantic” — in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Toronto, though multiple dates have already sold out. Tickets and info HERE. She has also dropped a limited collection of vinyl, CDs, and merch to complement the EP’s gorgeously dark sound. Pre-Order merch HERE.
“Buffalo 66”, named after the 1998 cult film, encapsulates the intoxicating pull of Jesus loves a primadonna from the start. Over dreamy instrumentation, Nessa sings of a romance that blurs seduction with danger. As the music surges with swooning guitars and searing strings, it becomes clear that she can’t find her way out: “Why am I in? Why am I in love? / In love with the one who holds the gun / Why is it we love what’s bad for us? / Why do I pray? God knows I should run / But I go back to us.”
“I wrote ‘Buffalo 66’ after watching one of my favorite films, Buffalo ’66,” Nessa explains. “This song was inspired by the Stockholm syndrome in the film, which, at its core, was something I really related to. ‘Buffalo 66’ reflects on the emotional heartache of being naïve in a toxic relationship — staying when you shouldn’t stay, loving what you shouldn’t love.”
Those themes ring out across Jesus loves a primadonna, which opens with Nessa crossing her heart before diving headfirst into romance on the Western-tinged “West Coast Prayer.” Produced and co-written by her go-to collaborators CJ Baran and Arthur Besna, the EP then travels through the sort of grunge-y, dynamic soundscapes heard on the lead single “High On Heaven” — which likens love to a powerful drug — before ending on “Stay With Me,” a heavy denouement that finds Nessa alone again and coming to grips with the trauma she’s endured.
In January, fans were treated to a powerful live version of “High On Heaven” recorded during her stop at Australia’s triple j radio to participate in their Like A Version covers series. She delivered a brutally spare rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and sat for an interview as well.
Nessa also worked with Baran and Besna across her celebrated second album AFTERCARE, which launched a 50-city world tour and boasted a darkened, dance-powered sound heard on standouts like “PASSENGER PRINCESS,” “DIRTY LITTLE SECRET,” “MUSTANG BABY”
featuring Artemas, “DISCO” with Tommy Genesis, deluxe addition “LOVE LOOKS PRETTY ON YOU,” and P*RNSTAR,” which she performed stunningly on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
EUPHORIA. was among those who heaped praise on the “optimistic and decidedly sexy AFTERCARE.” Meanwhile, PAPER Magazine chronicled THE AFTERCARE TOUR’s packed New York City stop, raving, “Fans filled the venue, screaming every lyric back as Barrett delivered a set that balanced raw emotion with the kind of dark-pop edge she’s perfected.” .
AFTERCARE was a major milestone for one of music’s most fascinating emerging voices, capping a banner year in which Nessa fully sold out her church club for the lonely tour, joined Lana Del Rey on stage at Hangout Festival to perform Nessa’s 2023 single “american jesus,” and released her pulse-pounding collaboration with Whethan, “sick of myself.”
After being named to Billboard’s “21 Under 21” list twice — as well as being featured on Forbes’ “Top Creators: Fashion 50,” People Magazine’s “Emerging Artists,” and similar hotly tipped lists from UPROXX, Ones to Watch, and others — she’s amassed nearly 3 billion global streams and over 27 million followers across social networks. With Jesus loves a primadonna, Nessa Barrett delivers an enthralling work that makes it all the more impossible to look away.
Nessa Barrett, Jesus loves a primadonna
1. “West Coast Prayer”
2. “Moulin Rouge”
3. “Black Haired Madonna”
4. “Venom”
5. “Buffalo 66”
6. “High On Heaven”
7. “Special To You”
8. “Stay With Me”