MUNA share more pop brilliance with “Crying On The Bathroom Floor” ahead of album drop

Following up last year’s late contender for track of the year and instant anthem “I Know A Place”, “Crying On The Bathroom Floor” is equal parts euphoric (in its production) and devastating (in its lyrics).

In some ways, it seems to work as a sequel or counterpart to melancholy dance standard Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own”. You can either look at it as being distraught following the night’s events back home on your own bathroom floor or as a narrative happening in parallel - all hell breaking loose in the club’s toilets after standing in the corner observing the night’s events.

“Crying…” discusses the concept of traumatic bonding, a topic the band was reading, writing, thinking and talking about while writing the song. Katie Gavin – lead vocalist and lyricist explains in a forthcoming newsletter entry that “traumatic bonding refers to the phenomenon of survivors in abusive relationships forming strong attachments to their abusers. This attachment plays out on a physical, biochemical level throughout the cycle of abuse, akin to the highs and the withdrawals of a drug addiction.”

The chorus of the track asks the question: “when I’m crying on the bathroom floor tearing off the dress I wore / I wonder if I could ever ask for more / if I’m ever gonna ask for more from a lover?” “The lyrics here refer to a moment of insight from a particularly dark place” Gavin writes. “We see ourselves in the bathroom mirror, in shambles after another night gone awry, and recognize that this isn’t what love looks like.”

The track was debuted live at MUNA’s first London headline show at the end of the September; it’s sad disco energy had the crowd going wild. As a further teaser for the band’s forthcoming album About U, it maintains the steadfast quality we’ve come to expect with every MUNA release.

You can read Gavin’s full unedited statement summarising her feelings releasing the new song, the inauguration and the steps that need to be undertaken in order to achieve some sense of equality below:

“Hey babes. Happy sad Friday.

We feel conscious today of how lucky we are to get to share our music with you, and this song is no exception. We wrote Crying on the Bathroom Floor while we were reading and writing and thinking and talking about the concept of traumatic bonding.

Traumatic bonding refers to the phenomenon of survivors in abusive relationships forming strong attachments to their abusers. This attachment plays out on a physical, biochemical level throughout the cycle of abuse, akin to the highs and the withdrawals of a drug addiction.

We were interested here in trying to portray the nuanced inner-struggle that comes with being mistreated. Many times we are asked to be uncompromising and unforgiving in the face of abuse; what this doesn’t allow space for is the discussion of why it can be incredibly hard for so many of us to do so.

There is a commonly circulated statistic that on average, a woman in an abusive relationship will try to leave seven times before she leaves for good. What this saddening figure shines a light on is how pervasive hateful speech and behavior can be; if we are forced to take it from someone else on a daily basis, soon it becomes part of our inner dialogue.

The chorus of this song holds a question: “When I’m crying on the bathroom floor / tearing off the dress I wore, I wonder / if I could ever ask for more / if I’m ever gonna ask for more from a lover.”

The lyrics here refer to a moment of insight from a particularly dark place. We see ourselves in the bathroom mirror, in shambles after another night gone awry, and recognize that this isn’t what love looks like.

Today we find our nation in a dark place. A man who exhibits textbook abusive behavior is being sworn in as the President of the United States. He provokes, name-calls, gaslights, threatens, and he does so while making it clear he has no intention of listening to how that makes us feel.

It is so imperative for us to recognize that, not only does Trump have the Senate and the House in his favor as a conservative, but in some ways he also has the nervous system on his side as an abuser. He will make us feel unsure of ourselves; at times, like we are being pushed to the boundaries of our sanity. He will attempt to intimidate us out of action, be it with his words or with something more forceful.

In short, we are entering a cycle that will be difficult to break. But this, we know: we must be uncompromising. We must be unforgiving. We must ask for more from ourselves, from our country, and from our (yes this is real) President.

See you at the marches, motherlovers!!! And see you on tour!!!

WE LOVE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!!!!

Xx”