I’m always down for new music from Olivia O’Brien—an artist whose style can only be described as big pants, small shirt—but her newest single took me by surprise.

While her single “NOW” belongs in the same family as all of her old music, I’d describe it as a distant cousin, closely related enough to sound cohesive, but removed enough to be new and exciting. The family member that is only invited to Thanksgiving dinner, but no other holidays.

The single begins with a sound I can only compare to the sound that an arcade game would make if you died in Pac-Man. The song then leaps into an upbeat, alternative-rock song that fits O’Brien brand: young, bold, and outspoken. 

The song gets a little repetitive at times, with the chorus just being her shouting the word “now” over and over again in different contexts, but it makes it easy to sing along to and made it simple for me to memorize.

The music video isn’t anything less than a spectacular masterpiece. It opens up with the Dr. Seuss version of O’Brien—one could compare her to a live-action Cindy Lou Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with wonky pigtails, and her expressing some personal thoughts to the camera about men in general. It acts as a pre-thought to the overall message of the song.

The song starts and a more punk rock O’Brien is seen; a new look, but one I support wholeheartedly nonetheless, as I do with most things she does—especially her Tik Toks that feature her adorable dog. He looks like he’d be friendly.

The music video also features the normal O’Brien, the one that wears big pants and small shirts.

While O’Brien is no beginner when it comes to colored hair (having a head full of purple hair for a while), the bright, eccentric colors are a new direction for her and I’m loving all of it. From the long black and blonde extensions paired with the tie and suit jacket she is rocking on the single’s cover, to the spiky, neon orange hair she rocks while head-banging in her music video, it all seems to be something new and exciting from O’Brien.

She later goes from punk rock to 2000s teen girl meets 1950s housewife with a suede sweatsuit and done-up hair, complete with her singing while accomplishing chores as if showing him exactly what he could’ve had if he hadn’t have messed things up by sleeping “with a random girl right next to you”

And while O’Brien has admitted in Tik Toks that her songs aren’t ever about boys she’s actually dated–I’ll admit it takes away from the illusion of the song being an exquisite break up song, I forgive her nonetheless for creating these bold, unique songs that have blessed my ears ever since I found her on accident a few years ago while scrolling through my Spotify. This being reason number 43 of why I’ll never switch to Apple Music.

“NOW” by Olivia O’Brien is yet another song of hers I’ll be adding to my playlists of headbangers.