Cleveland emo-pop band The Grievance Club are back with their first new single in nearly two years, "Iconartist." The song "deals with the disillusionment that often comes as a result of putting those we respect on a pedestal, kind of going from starstruck to starfucked," the band tells us. "Essentially a 'kill your heroes' mindset, in large part as a reminder to ourselves. But it also deals with the dissonance around searching for somebody in the room who actually practices their politics and ethics, who incorporates their integrity into their art, somebody who you can look toward as a model for who you want to be; and eventually realizing how damaging it can be to place your positions and values in the hands of your heroes."
It comes with a video directed by the band's friend Bobby Makar, who passed away a few months after the band filmed it, and the video is now dedicated to him, as the band explains: "We filmed the video in late summer of 2020, with our longtime friend Bobby Makar and about a dozen or so of our friends. It was such a fun and smooth experience, with a healthy amount of on the spot decisions that we all felt great about. Bobby was part of our family by that point, and it hit us very hard when he passed a few months later. He was always our strongest advocate, and it was impossible to not feel encouraged and inspired in his company. We’re just so grateful and lucky that the timing worked out so we could collaborate with him on such a fun project one more time; so this video and the new record as a whole are dedicated to Bobby."