Okay so I need to talk about something that keeps happening to me, and apparently, I haven’t learned my fucking lesson yet. You know when you meet someone and every single cell in your body is screaming “this is a bad idea” but also “holy shit yes please”? Where your brain is making a very reasonable PowerPoint presentation about all the red flags and your body is just like “yeah but hear me out, what if we didn’t care?” I’ve done this so much my friends don’t even try to stop me anymore. They just text “use protection” and wait for the inevitable debrief. And listen, I know I should be embarrassed but I’m not because that feeling when you’re fully spellbound by someone packing a big tool and who’s absolutely wrong for you? That shit is intoxicating as hell. Indira Ellis fucking gets it, and her alt-rock remix of ‘Spellbound’ is what that feeling sounds like when you plug it into an amplifier and let it scream.
This isn’t the stripped down version anymore – she took that track and gave it teeth. Roaring guitars, drums that hit like your pulse when you’re doing something reckless, all that Evanescence and nu-metal energy from when we were teens, and everything felt like life or death.
She opens with “Step right up / Come on down / Let’s explore the underground / I like when you push me around” and immediately we’re in it. No buildup, no coy flirting – just straight into “I like when you push me around.” Then she hits you with “This chair wasn’t made for two / So maybe I could come join you?” which is such a perfect little moment of asking for something you both know is already happening. She’s saying she wants to flirt with danger, wants to walk that line, admits she’s wrapped around someone’s finger and somehow it feels divine.
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“I wrote this single about the experience of being spellbound by a stereotypical ‘bad boy,'” Indira tells me, and I’m already nodding because same, girl, fucking same. “It felt like a fall breeze in that it was chilly, and didn’t last long enough.” God, that’s the whole thing right there – you know it’s temporary, you know you’ll be cold after, but in the moment? “For this version of Spellbound, I was really excited to lean into the alt-rock/nu metal sounds that scored my teen years.” And she nailed it. This sounds like it should be playing in a dark club or a bedroom, nowhere in between.
The chorus comes in asking “Is this love? / Is this hate? / Could it be mine? / Call it fate” and honestly, that’s the internal monologue we’ve all had at 2 am. She’s talking about being captivated, knees betrayed – which, yes, exactly that weak-kneed feeling when someone looks at you a certain way. Then it shifts to “Pills and potions / Memories / Confess it all / ‘Dear Diary'” and I feel that in my fucking soul. All those secrets you write down but never say out loud. But here’s the line that really got me: “Fool me once, fool me twice / I think I’d like it if you fooled me thrice.” She’s admitting she knows she’s being played and wants more anyway. That’s some honest shit right there.
Second verse gets even better. “We can try two against one / Long as everyone has fun” – I mean, she’s not being subtle and I respect the hell out of it. She’s putting scenarios out there that most people only think about. And when she says “I’m always ready to comply”? There’s power in that submission. She’s choosing it, which makes it hers.
What I love is how Indira doesn’t try to pretty this up. The production is polished but those guitars are aggressive. Her voice has this sweetness from all her classical training and musical theatre background, but she’s using it to sell something completely adult. It’s the contrast that makes it work – that sugary commercial shine over lyrics about getting fooled three times and being ready to comply.
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This remix version just hits different. The original track was fun but this? This feels like sex. Like texting someone you swore you were done with. Like making the same mistake on purpose because goddamn, it feels good while you’re in it.
Indira moved to New York and started making music about self-discovery and finding herself, and apparently, part of that journey is admitting we’re all a little bit into danger sometimes. Since 2022 she’s been releasing these tracks that are honest about the messy parts of figuring your shit out. And ‘Spellbound’ is messy in the best way – it’s about desire that doesn’t make sense, attraction that’s probably a bad idea, and deciding to dive in anyway.
Stream this immediately if you’ve ever made a questionable decision and enjoyed every second of it. If you’ve ever been hypnotized by the wrong person. If you understand that sometimes being spellbound is worth whatever chaos comes after. Indira Ellis understood the assignment and then some.
