There’s a point in the night where everything’s too loud, too glossy, too fake—and somehow still not enough. That’s where BURST <3 lives. Right at the intersection of bubblegum and bloodlust. The glamor’s violent, the nightlife is performative, and every beat wants to rip your skin off and crawl inside.
Coupdekat doesn’t do anything half-assed. She wrote BURST <3 as the final single before her fourth EP BLOW HER UP AND SHE’LL BURST! which dropped July 18, the same day she hit the stage at her already sold-out Club Gunk. She said she was inspired by Brat and that jagged, mean-girl aesthetic—wanted to “put [her] own spin on it, delving into a less friendly side of the London party scene—the social bubbles and the never-ending performance.” And you can feel that sharp little smirk baked into every kick and glitch. This track wants to fuck with you. And it does.
The synths are razor-sharp, and the beat bounces, taunting. Think SOPHIE chaos with Charli XCX gloss and Caroline Polachek control, but dirtier, more unhinged. And under all that hyperpop distortion is a girl who’s done playing nice. Hi, I’m on top / If it’s a photo opportunity, I’m up. That’s confidence wired straight into survival. She’s showing face because it’s the only way to stay relevant in a scene that eats its darlings and shits out copies.
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You can hear her chewing through it—You chew your gum / You blow that bubble—I can burst. It’s bratty, yeah, but it’s calculated. Every P.I.C.K. ME is laced with venom. She’s mocking the game while still playing it, walking the red carpet, knowing it leads straight to the firing squad.
And it just loops and escalates—B.U.R.S.T. / I’m gonna pop that thing. She repeats it with purpose, each pass more deliberate than the last. The sound keeps circling as her voice stretches the line, steady and controlled, never slipping out of place. Everything stays locked in, right up against the rhythm. The hook moves with it, tight and unbroken.
Headline, with three dots / I wanna pose / I wanna be right up front, with you. She leans into that image—hot girl on display, daring you to decode what’s real and what’s curated. Then she lands the cut: When he says, “Babe, we want the money, not the art.” That’s the line you hear in boardrooms, in bed, backstage. They smile when they say it, but it leaves bruises.
She answers with something that sounds like reclamation: Passion, intoxicated / Fashion, emancipated. She owns every word of it. Nothing in that line requires approval.
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Kat’s been building this world since she was 15, but lockdown is when Coupdekat snapped into place. She was raised on a variety of 80s music. She pulls from everywhere—Lily Allen’s bite, Frou Frou’s softness, Blondie’s glamour, and The Cure’s melancholy. There are echoes of early-to-mid 80s American electric funk here, too. You can hear it in the sexy syncopation and in the sultry way she delivers each line. The sound you get is messy, girly, hot, and dangerous all at once. This track would fold seamlessly into a Midnight Star “Freak-A-Zoid” mashup, sexy AF, and still keep the floor moving.
Since 2021, she’s dropped two EPs—Imaginary Girls and FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY—picked up praise from BBC Radio 1, Spotify editorial, Wonderland, NME, and even Grammy-winner Philip Lawrence. She’s played alongside Dream Wife, Piri & Tommy, Charlotte Plank, Nine8 Collective, and more.
She’s also co-founder of LOUD LDN, the London-based collective giving female and non-binary artists space to be loud, hot, unfiltered, and absolutely unbothered. Over 120 members building something real—sharing lineups, making noise, showing up for each other like the industry never has.
BURST <3 is that energy in sonic form. Brutal and flirty. Grotesque and glittery. It lands exactly how she wants it to—loud, sharp, and already on to the next thing.
