There’s something deliciously deceptive about the title ‘Slow Burn’. It implies patience, restraint, the languorous passage of time – but beneath the surface there is a palpable sense of ignition, a gathering heat that threatens to consume everything in its path.
Today, Backseat Mafia is very pleased to exclusively premiere the video for ‘Slow Burn’, the intoxicating new single from Australian-Chilean/Ecuadorian artist Isolía, formerly known as Lolita Mae, and the first glimpse into her forthcoming three-part project Sonríe Al Diablo.
And this is far more than a simple change of name.
‘Sonríe Al Diablo’ marks the birth of Isolía as a fully realised artistic identity: an interdimensional alter ego inhabiting a world where Latin heritage and bolero romanticism collide with ethereal electronics, dark pop and something altogether more cinematic and mysterious. Across three songs, released four weeks apart, Isolía charts an emotional descent through the body, the soul and the shadow – from desire, through devotion, and ultimately into something far darker.
‘Slow Burn’ is where the doors first open.
Built on gently propulsive afrobeats/amapiano rhythms, flickering congas and gorgeous Spanish guitar, it has the humid, narcotic atmosphere of dusk after an oppressively hot day. Isolía’s voice seems to float just above the instrumentation: intimate and sensuous, but retaining a spectral quality that prevents the track ever settling comfortably into straightforward pop.
There is yearning here, certainly, but no desperation. This is desire deliberately stretched out until every tiny movement becomes charged with electricity – a celebration of romance without haste and the pleasures of being treated with “care, softness, and intention.”
Co-producer Will Roman provides the Spanish guitar that snakes seductively through the track before blooming into a sumptuous solo, bringing an organic warmth to Isolía’s more diaphanous electronic landscape. The juxtaposition is gorgeous: ancient romantic impulses refracted through a very contemporary prism.
And visually, ‘Slow Burn’ feels like an introduction to a world rather than simply an accompaniment to a song. Flowers, flesh, shadows and earthy reds and browns create an atmosphere poised somewhere between romance and ritual. Beauty here seems always to carry the faint suggestion of danger.
That becomes increasingly important as ‘Sonríe Al Diablo’ unfolds.
Which makes the luxuriant warmth of ‘Slow Burn’ all the more intriguing. Knowing where this trilogy is heading casts a shadow backwards across its opening moments. The sweetness suddenly carries menace; the flame illuminating the room might ultimately be the thing that burns it down.
It is an impressive rebirth: sensual, strange and deeply evocative, with Isolía constructing an aesthetic universe rather than merely releasing a collection of songs.
For now, though, we remain in the heat – before the plunge.
Watch our exclusive premiere of Isolía’s ‘Slow Burn’ below.
‘Slow Burn’ is released on 21 August and forms Chapter I of Isolía’s three-part Sonríe Al Diablo project. You can pre-order the single here.
