Rising Irish pop star Lenii premiered the darkly comical music video for her new single "Regular 10" on Thursday (Feb. 6), exclusively with Billboard.
The visual finds the singer-songwriter, born Ellen Murphy, spilling her woes to a doodling therapist (who she also plays) before the action jumps inside the proverbial closet, as she's surrounded by the frenetic skeletons from her past.
"Had a dream again that my 12-year-old self is disappointed in me, but generally/ I'm doin' well, can you tell? I'm a regular 10/ Met some strangers and called them my friends/ But I know I'm not the only pretender/ Lying under pressure, sayin' I've got my s–t together," the Cork-born artist warbles on the first verse before abruptly transitioning into the rapid-fire spoken chorus.
"This song is the best example of my] EP's theme," Murphy tells Billboard of the inspiration behind the track. "It's all about pretending you're doing great, or looking like a '10,' when you're actually hiding all the parts of your life you're not proud of.
"I was feeling particularly gloomy the morning I wrote this," she continues. "I felt like such a mess, looking at my friends on Instagram all appearing to do so well. And then I thought, 'This is bulls–t,' because I know half of them are messes too, and there's probably someone looking at my Instagram thinking I'm killing it."
"Regular 10," she concludes, "Is about how funny and sad it is that we're all just keeping up appearances."
The bop serves as the lead single of Lenii's In All Fairness… and follows "Crave U," her recent collaboration with up-and-coming DJ-producer Zack Martino.
Check out the exclusive premiere of "Regular 10" below.
