Royel Otis Drop Single 'car', Lock In Two Aussie Pub Fan Gigs

Royel Otis are back in their feels with a brand-new single, and they’re giving fans a chance to hear it live in two exclusive Aussie pub shows this July.

Their latest track, “car”, dropped today and it’s a bittersweet, jangle-pop slow burn that builds into a soft emotional gut punch. The song premiered overnight as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record and comes paired with news of two exclusive shows in Melbourne and Sydney next month. The single follows “moody”, the album’s first release, which was teased back in May during a sold-out show in Los Angeles.

“car” was co-written by the Sydney duo alongside hitmakers Blake Slatkin (Gracie Abrams, Omar Apollo) and Omer Fedi (Lil Nas X, the Kid LAROI), and it captures that specific type of heartbreak where nothing’s really said, but everything’s already understood: “Yeah I’ll meet you at the car on the corner / but we know it’s gotta change sometime.”

To celebrate their latest release, the band will return to Australia in July for two intimate and exclusive fan events: Saturday July 19th at Melbourne’s Punters Club and Sunday July 20th at Vic on The Park in Sydney. Fans can gain access to the exclusive shows by pre-ordering hickey via the Royel Otis AU store and entering to win a double pass.

It’s the second taste of their upcoming sophomore album hickey, which drops August 22nd via OURNESS / Capitol Records. Where debut LP PRATTS & PAIN introduced the world to their breezy indie-rock charm, hickey promises a deeper, moodier twist on the duo’s melodic chaos.

In a Rolling Stone AU/NZ interview earlier this year, Otis Pavlovic spoke about their process: “We’ll start working on some stuff in early January. We’ve got a little bit of time away to just work on some music.”

Royel Maddell added: “The process… it’s always different. It’s like building a cake.”

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Royel Otis have been on a tear lately. Their cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor” became a Like A Version sensation, taking out the #2 spot on triple j’s Hottest 100 and landing them on the Billboard Alternative charts. Then came PRATTS & PAIN, a breakout debut that earned them four ARIA Awards—including Best Group—and saw them tour internationally with sold-out shows across Australia, the U.K., Europe and the U.S.

This new era kicks off with two stripped-back Aussie shows—just the band and the fans, no fuss, no filter. Pre-order hickey from the Royel Otis AU Store for a chance to win tickets.