Premiere: Amy Darling is an untamed ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Woman’

Rock ‘n roll isn’t dead. The paradigm has just shifted like tectonic plates on the San Andreas fault line. In the last 20 years, as we then-inched closer to the new millennia, the guitar-thrashing genre known for sticking it to the man has been shouldered out for pop confection, hip-hop and eardrum-bursting EDM. Rock music of yesteryear is no longer the top dog, and that’s quite alright. Noisey‘s Dan Ozzi mused last summer, “While rock may be getting nudged out of the top, its middle is expanding.” And he’s right on the proverbial money. The fray is made cool again, and it is absolutely thriving. Destructive flame-thrower Amy Darling underscores the truly marvelous work being made well outside the clutches of mainstream.

Her debut music video, premiering today, is a classic ’70s low-roller. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Woman” features an aesthetic warmed to the touch by way of Lita Ford, Stevie Nicks and Debbie Harry, but Darling emerges as her own self-possessed entity, one seeking her own trail from the blackness. “Trouble was my only friend,” she smirks, soaking in the camera’s rapt lens. In framing her own dalliances with devilry between sweltering guitar licks, she conjures up an almost ritualistic quality, the music washing up and over the listener in bubble-laced waves. “Looked over and I caught his eye / Pretended like we were shy / He put that song on the jukebox / And I couldn’t deny,” she sings before lighting up on the hook.

“I’m a rock ’n’ roll woman / And you’re a rock ’n’ roller, too,” she roars, a flirtatious edict cast down like bolts of lightning. She not only celebrates and wiggles in her own womanhood, but she beacons all into her spotlight. “Come along honey / I wanna rock ’n’ roll with you.” Darling’s voice edges the signature rock borders with a gritty seduction, moving just enough outside the lines to provoke and taunt. “Fallin’ all over the place / Put that record, pressed play / We were slayed by the guitar / I couldn’t have it any other way,” she coos on the second verse, as she wraps herself within rock music’s trembling glow.

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Woman” serves as the title cut to her debut EP, released last fall, which further highlights the scope of her work with sparkle and finesse. “This song and video were meant to capture the very essence of rock ’n’ roll and who I am as an entertainer,” Darling tells B-Sides & Badlands. “It was important for me to champion women in this regard, not only because it coincides with the overall theme of the song, but to celebrate the women who are working hard to keep the legacy alive. I believe that the next great rock ’n’ roll revival will be led by women.”

Watch below:

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