Mercury Prize-winning alt-rock band Wolf Alice have officially entered a bold new era with the announcement of The Clearing, their highly anticipated fourth studio album, the North London quartet unveiled an expansive North American tour and dropped an evocative new single, “Bloom Baby Bloom,” complete with a Colin Solal Cardo-directed music video.
“Bloom Baby Bloom” is a theatrical rock anthem that blends defiance, vulnerability, and self-possession in a tightly coiled burst of energy. With Ellie Rowsell’s dynamic vocal performance leading the charge, the track uses florid metaphors and biting sarcasm to explore themes of gender, identity, and emotional labor.
Lyrically, the song punches back at infantilizing patriarchy and the pressure to suppress emotional truth: “Do I have to make you sit on your hands? / Fucking baby, baby man.” It’s a sneer at male fragility, yet also a confession of exhaustion – “Look at me trying to play it hard / I’m so sick and tied” – revealing the toll that performative toughness can take on women navigating power dynamics.
The chorus transforms pain into growth. “I’ll bloom, baby, bloom… Every flower needs to neighbor with the dirt” is both a reclamation and a release, positioning vulnerability not as weakness, but as a condition for resilience. By the final bridge – “Feel like I won’t flower in spoiled earth” – the metaphor turns urgent, underscoring the cost of blooming in a hostile environment.
Musically, the song fuses glam, alt-rock, and musical theater influences with bold tempo shifts, dramatic pre-choruses, and shouted refrains (“Wow!”), adding to its stage-like flair. It’s defiant, decadent, and deeply human – a loud bloom from the cracks in the pavement.
Frontwamn Ellie Rowsell calls it a “rock song about being a woman,” explaining, “I wanted to focus on my voice as a rock instrument… It’s been freeing to put the guitar down and reach a point where I don’t feel like I need to prove that I’m a musician.”
Directed by Colin Salo Cardo (Charli XCX, Christine and the Queens) and choreographed by Emmy winner Ryan Heffington (“Euphoria,” Sia), the video is a hyper-stylized reinterpretation of a classic rock performance, complete with Fosse-inspired movement and theatrical flair. Rowsell’s dynamic performance is the centerpiece of a visual that pulses with empowerment and creativity.
The Clearing marks Wolf Alice’s first new music in three years and promises a fierce, theatrical evolution of their sound. Written by seven Sisters, London, and recorded in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin, the album is describes as a confident, genre-defying project that explores growth, identity, and emotional release.
The 20-date North American leg kicks off September 19 in Atlanta, Georgia, and will see Wolf Alice crisscross the U.S. and Canada before culminating in Los Angeles at The Wiltern on October 13. This will be the band’s most ambitious tour yet, hitting some of the biggest stages of their career. U.S. fans can purchase tickets and pre-save the album now at wolfalice.co.uk.
Before their North American run, Wolf Alice will performance at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend (May 24, Liverpool) and Glastonbury Festival (June 29). Later in 2025, they’ll embark on a massive U.K. na European arena tour, including dates at the O2 Arena in London AO Arena in Manchester, and OVO Hydro in Glasgow.
North American Tour Dates
- Sept. 10 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead
- Sept. 12 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
- Sept. 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
- Sept. 19 – Brooklyn, NY – Paramount
- Sept. 20 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
- Sept. 22 – Montreal, QC – Beanfield Theatre
- Sept. 23 – Toronto, ON – History
- Sept. 25 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
- Sept. 26 – Chicago, IL – The Vic
- Sept. 27 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
- Sept. 30 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
- Oct. 1 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
- Oct. 3 – Denver, CO – Ogden
- Oct. 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Complex
- Oct. 6 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
- Oct. 7 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
- Oct. 8 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
- Oct. 10 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theatre
- Oct. 11 – Pomona, CA – Fox Theatre
- Oct. 13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
re-save/add/order The Clearing now
Watch the “Bloom Baby Bloom” video
For full tour info and tickets, visit wolfalice.co.uk
Photo Credit: Rachel Fleminger Hudson
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