New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Multi-platinum-selling rock band
X Ambassadors have shared their new single �torture,� an electrifying and emotionally raw collaboration with Alabama-bred singer/songwriter/producer Earl St. Clair. Released via KIDinaKORNER/ Interscope Records/ Universal Music, �torture� is the third and final track from X Ambassadors� (Eg) - a multi-part project also featuring collaborations with Terrell Hines and Jensen McRae. �torture� by
X Ambassadors with Earl St. Clair is available now at all digital retailers.
The follow-up to �skip.that.party� - X Ambassadors� collaboration with McRae, released last month - �torture� is a time-warping piece of soul-pop built on classic grooves and futuristic textures. As he trades off vocals with
X Ambassadors lead singer Sam
Nelson Harris, St. Clair showcases the force-of-nature voice and tremendous range he revealed on his 2017 debut album Songs About A Girl I Used To Know. Meanwhile, the track�s brooding melodies and impassioned lyrics spin a powerful portrait of romantic devastation (�I�ll give you anything, and everything/Just to take my pain away�).
Launched in January with the premiere of �ultraviolet.tragedies� (an explosive collaboration with Hines), (Eg) was created as a way for
X Ambassadors to spotlight the boundary-pushing artists they�ve encountered through their production/co-writing work. As with Hines and McRae, the band felt an immediate chemistry upon linking up with St. Clair. �We had our first session with Earl and wrote pretty much all of �torture� in a few hours,� Harris recalls. �I had the chorus and Earl came on and did the rest and made it his own, and right away I asked if he�d be down to be a part of this project.�
Like �ultraviolet.tragedies� and �skip.that.party,� �torture� is accompanied by a documentary-style visual that defies the standard music-video format and incorporates excerpts from a one-on-one conversation between Harris and St. Clair. In keeping with the track�s unfiltered feeling, the two musicians go deep on topics like emotional truth in songwriting, vulnerability as a natural state, and the life-changing heartbreak that informed the making of Songs About A Girl I Used To Know.
Completed as
X Ambassadors finished up their third full-length effort (due out later this year), (Eg) is a natural progression for the hyper-creative band, whose output includes producing and writing for global superstars such as
Rihanna and working extensively with
Lizzo on her massively successful 2019 album Cuz I Love You (including co-writing and producing tracks like �Jerome,� winner of Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 62nd Annual GRAMMY� Awards). In sharing (Eg) with the world,
X Ambassadors hope to drum up further excitement for each of the emerging musicians they enlisted as collaborators. �They�re all very much artists with their own unique style that�s so specific to them; they truly don�t care about fitting into any sort of mold, or curating their sound to anything other than what they envision,� says Harris. �That�s what drew me to all of them, and I know it�ll draw other people in too.�
X Ambassadors made their full-length debut with VHS, a 2015 release that saw the band transition from Ithaca alt-rockers and Brooklyn-indie-scene outsiders to Billboard stalwarts. Now certified platinum, VHS provided an intimate look at Sam
Nelson Harris and his brother Casey Harris�s youth, delivering the genre-defying hits �Unsteady� and �Renegades� and leading to a three-year global touring odyssey as well as a string of high-profile festival performances. VHS was followed by X Ambassadors� 2019 sophomore album ORION, which they supported with an extensive headline tour of the U.S. A project inspired by �60s and �70s soul and R&B, the band�s Belong EP arrived in March 2020.
