New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Oh Wonder are one of the UK's best-kept secrets. What started with the relatively modest ambition of uploading a track month for a year on Soundcloud quickly transformed the lives of Josephine and Anthony. Five years, 2 billion streams and more than a million record sales globally down the line - as well as a top 10 album back home, and sold-out shows including Brixton Academy and 300,000 global headline tickets - have led to where
Oh Wonder find themselves in 2019: a truly modern-day success story, and one which, like the best of things, appears to have largely been a happy accident. The same, too, could be said of the friendship between Josephine and Anthony, whose magnetic intimacy on and off-stage has evolved (as many fans speculated) into romantic relationship, with all the highs and lows that come from living, working and doing just about everything else with your partner.
If there has always been more to
Oh Wonder than met the eye, "
Hallelujah" heralds a newfound clarity in the band. Building from hushed harmonies and beautiful orchestration into breakneck electronics and dizzying pop, it's easily the most urgent, infectious and anthemic moment of Oh Wonder's career to date. And as much as 'Hallelujah' pushes the sound of the band forward, for Josephine and Anthony (who still write, record and produce all their music themselves in their home studio) it also represents that confidence - to open up, and to go back to your roots - which have been paramount to their approach on album 3…
"'Hallelujah' is a song of defiance that we wrote for anyone that has ever been told they can't do something. As music-making teenagers, we were both discouraged by naysayers who declared that we would never be successful, that we weren't good enough, and that we could never be superstars, so we should just give up. When we met each other, we bonded over our shared experiences of setbacks and near-misses, and set ourselves the highly unrealistic goal of releasing music and touring the world. After two albums and a world tour of 43 countries, we have only recently had a chance to process the last 5 years. 'Hallelujah' is a reminder to ourselves, as much as anyone else, to not care what people think of you, to work hard, be yourself and try your best. It's our personal anthem of self-acceptance that we hope will encourage others to "wear their crowns", no matter what anyone else says."
Arriving alongside a joyous, one-take video made in collaboration with Gregory Ohrel and Supple Nam, "
Hallelujah" announces Oh Wonder's return in bold, brilliant fashion: no longer DIY pop-stars-in-hiding, but a duo whose musical and emotional alchemy is a timely testament to our purest need to connect.
Tonight,
Oh Wonder will celebrate the launch of the new single (and, coincidentally 5 years since the first ever
Oh Wonder single) by playing a handful of tracks - old and new - at Colours, Hoxton. The show sold out in just under 10 seconds last week.
