Romy of The xx announces single with Fred Again and HAAi, plus launch party
'Lights Out' is out on Thursday (January 20)
By Joe Goggins
Romy has announced a three-way collaboration with Fred Again and HAAi.
The new track, entitled ‘Lights Out’, will arrive tomorrow (January 20). The three artists took to their respective Instagram pages to post news of the track, via screenshots of a WhatsApp group chat, where they also make reference to a launch show that HAAi describes as a “last min free rave in London” in the post’s caption.
“I am SO excited about it!” said Romy in her own post. Fred Again added: “Me and @haaihaaihaai and @romyromyromy have decided to do a random last minute pop up rave in London on the day our song ‘lights out’ comes out! WHICH IS THURSDAY! WHICH IS ONE DAY AWAY BASICALLY!”
HAAi, meanwhile, hinted that they would be joined by social guests at the party, writing: “We may even bring some pals along to play as well, who knows?” Further details have yet to emerge, but fans can sign up via this link to discover the location.
Last month, Romy’s band The xx shared footage of themselves playing together. The three-piece’s most recent album, ‘I See You’, turned five last week (January 13); the last meaningful update from the band as to their future direction came in January 2020, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Romy’s debut solo single, ‘Lifeline’, was released in 2020, and she confirmed that a full solo album was in the works. She contributed backing vocals to the track ‘We Will Sin Together’ on Savages singer Jehnny Beth’s debut solo album, ‘To Love Is to Live’, the same year.
Around the time of ‘Lifeline’s release, Romy was quizzed on the future of The xx by Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson. She confirmed there would be more music to come from the group, telling him: “I got some messages and stuff from people saying: ‘What’s happened to The xx?’ And I just wanted to be clear with that and just say we love each other and we’re making more music together for sure.”
“But it’s nice to just encourage each other to do something different,” she continued, “and like I said, just learn and bring something new back. And also I like being able to just see Oliver [Sim] and Jamie [xx] do something from afar and be inspired by that.”