Fabiana Palladino – “Drunk”

It can be both fun and depressing to call out nepo babies — fun because LOL fuck that shit, depressing because it serves as a reminder that people whose parents have their own Wikipedia pages are more likely to succeed at their chosen path than the rest of us. Every once in a while, though, you come across a person with prominent parents who really is insanely talented and whose success is well-deserved. That’s really depressing, or maybe that serves to reinforce the idea that talent rises to the top, depending on your mood when you encounter such a case. Fabiana Palladino is one of those.

The London musician Fabiana Palladino is the daughter of the all-time great bassist Pino Palladino, so it’s not like she’s some Lockheed Martin executive’s kid or whatever. For years, Fabiana Palladino has been making her own music, and she’s been aligned with Jai Paul’s Paul Institute. This year, Palladino released her self-titled debut album, and it’s fucking awesome. Now, Palladino has also shared “Drunk,” an excellently slinky new track that features her father on bass. It’s a little less sleek than the songs on her record, but it has the same sense of soulfully icy cool. Here’s what she says about the song:

“Drunk” was written with the chaos of modern dating as my backdrop: trying to navigate the apps, the blurred line between casual and serious, experiencing the evolving terminology in real life — situationships, love bombing, ghosting, breadcrumbing. Are they new behaviours, or do we just have new words for them? I’m not sure, but I know it’s not just me dealing with how complicated it all seems to feel these days. In “Drunk,” I’m unsteady, but I’m leaning into the uncertainty and the drama, trying to find some kind of art and meaning in it. ‘Cause it’s no fun on your own, and peace is boring.

Hear “Drunk” below.