Lipstick On The Glass

Album: Blue Weekend (2021)
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Songfacts®:

  • Here, Wolf Alice singer-guitarist Ellie Rowsell sings about reconnecting with a lover who's betrayed her.

    I take you back
    Yeah, I know it seems surprising when there's lipstick still on the glass
    And the full moon rising, but it's me who makes myself mad, mm
    I'll take you


    "The lipstick on the glass" was telltale evidence that Roswell's lover had been cheating on her. She still loves him and will give their relationship another go. Roswell tells us on the bridge that he's strayed before, so she is cross with herself for reconnecting again with such an untrustworthy guy.
  • Speaking in an interview with Radio X, Rowsell said, "'Lipstick on the Glass' is about a moment before you have to make a decision on something. That kind of tense moment being pulled in both directions."
  • The song features a surging riff and a wash of synths. The band took a long time to come up with the right instrumentation and produced multiple demos before finding the track's natural home. "We had one version that was like fairly electronic and we had one that was very 'band-y' and we were kind of caught between those two extremes," guitarist Jonathan Oddie told RadioX. "Neither one felt quite right and we met somewhere in the middle, and finding where that middle ground was took a very long time."
  • This is the third track on Blue Weekend. The video directly follows the clip for "Delicious Things," the second track on the album, where we see the band sitting in a taxi. The visual for "Lipstick" starts with Wolf Alice leaving the cab and walking down the street. Rowsell engages with an elderly woman in a store's shop front, and the pair lip-sync the song's lyrics together.
  • London-based photographer and videographer Jordan Hemingway directed this and the other videos for Blue Weekend. Hemingway has previously worked on campaigns for Nike and Gucci.

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