Nastiya Kai leans into her ambitions on the whimsical alt-pop track “I’d Do Anything”

Following the release of her debut album Demon Era this past May, Los Angeles' Nastiya Kai is giving B-side track “I’d Do Anything” the full single treatment. Announcing the release on Instagram, Kai said “This song became such a special one to me. It’s by far the most hopeful track on the record and helped me manifest everything I ever wanted.”

“I’d Do Anything” opens with a muted, gentle, lullaby-type synth pattern, emphasising the dream state the song inhabits. The synth loop stays persistent under the pulsating, almost-techno backbeat that enters later on. The track favours minimalist instrumentation throughout, using the negative space to create a lush overall aura that keeps all the track’s intricacies front and centre. Kai utilises her lower register on the verses, bordering on spoken word, and switches to her head voice by the chorus, with the chorus itself gives the same feelings of release and hopefulness you get from listening to Maggie Rogers’ “Alaska.” Kai’s head voice gives off the same joy and overwhelm as a breathy, unexpected acceptance speech.

Kai says “I’d Do Anything” started as a diary entry, which makes sense when putting a magnifying glass to the lyrics. The track circles around confessional themes of comparison and looking inward, with insecurity coming through in lines like “A real life taboo / A woman looking like a stray / I wore this for you / Am I suitable enough? You be the judge” in which Kai looks to others for approval. Kai also explores the possibility of all of her hard work not being worth it, saying the track is her “thinking about what it would be like when you make it to the top. "Would it make you happier? Does your life actually change, or does it become emptier the higher you climb?” Lines “I kinda like me better with my scars” and “I thought that I’d be happy by now / But I’m not” speak to this idea of the grass potentially not being greener on the side of success.

The music video for “I’d Do Anything” sees Kai parading around a pink mansion, trying on clothes and jewelry, basking in the sun, looking through the medicine cabinet, and dancing through the garden. It’s an immersive dress-up experience in which Kai is fully inhabiting a life that’s not hers, but trying to play it off like it is. There is a seamless connection between the song and the video, with lyrics at times explaining what is happening on screen (like “And you with your glitzy shoes / And me with my muddy vans / On your white carpet,” where we see Kai take off her sneakers, step onto the white carpet, and begin to explore). It’s all part of the process of Kai turning into the dream version of herself.