Tyler Cole makes solo debut with double single ‘Good Drugs//Bad Joke’
They follow his 2020 collaboration with WILLOW
By Joe Goggins
Tyler Cole has made his solo musical debut with a new double single – you can see the video for ‘Bad Joke’ below.
The singer-songwriter rose to prominence in 2020, when he and WILLOW released a collaborative album under the name THE ANXIETY. Now, Cole is stepping out in his own right, with two tracks, ‘Good Drugs/Bad Joke’, arriving via Def Jam. The video for the latter, which was directed by Mattias Russo-Larsson, is out now.
Speaking of his decision to release the two new songs together, Cole explained in a statement: “Releasing these two songs together is the perfect complement, not just because of the dichotomy of good vs. bad, but because of the sonic range between the two songs. Together, I feel like they say a lot about me as an artist.”
Meanwhile, it’s also been announced that Cole is making moves in the world of film, with his debut screenplay, Da Understudy, having been picked up by Amazon Studios. Legendary filmmaker Spike Lee is slated to direct. Cole wrote the script in collaboration with Tom Hanada and Zach Strauss; according to Deadline, the filmwill tell the story of life imitating art when the understudy of a Broadway production finds a role he’s willing to kill for.
The album that Cole released with WILLOW as THE ANXIETY met with generally favourable reviews. It spawned the hit ‘Meet Me at the Spot’, which has over 750 million plays across streaming platforms. To promote the record, Cole and WILLOW staged a performance art piece at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which saw the pair locked in glass boxes for 24 hours, unable to communicate with each other directly.
It was intended to depict the the eight stages of anxiety (paranoia, rage, sadness, numbness,. euphoria, strong interest, compassion and acceptance). Coincidentally, the isolation-themed piece took place on March 11, 2020, just days before COVID-19 lockdowns began worldwide.