Dublin pop powerhouse Pastiche returns with her vibrant and emotionally charged new single ‘Hot Mess Express’, the latest preview from her upcoming EP, Femme Fatality, due for release on October 16th.
The brainchild of singer-songwriter Jade Roche, Pastiche has swiftly emerged as one of Ireland’s most compelling new pop voices. Hot on the heels of a buzzworthy Forbidden Fruit performance and her recent nod as RTÉ 2FM’s Rising Artist for 2025, Pastiche continues to build unstoppable momentum, backed by a wave of critical acclaim and widespread national airplay.
“Pastiche, for me, is what I always wanted to be as a woman – strong, independent, confident, all the things that I wish I was but that I feel like I’m not,” she shares with 1883. Co-produced with Alex O’Keefe, ‘Hot Mess Express’ dives deep into the emotional terrain of modern womanhood, a central thread that weaves through the entirety of Femme Fatality. Penned during a turbulent chapter in Roche’s life — marked by an Endometriosis and Adenomyosis diagnosis, undergoing egg freezing at 26, personal upheaval, and a return to her family home after years in London — the track is rooted in raw, lived experience. At its core, the song explores the paradox of control: how embracing chaos became her only anchor.
Sonically, the track pulses with bold electronic production, infectious pop hooks, and luminous melodies. Lyrically, it explores vulnerability, empowerment, and identity through an unapologetically feminine lens. “It’s a song about spiralling, something I tend to do quite often,” she admits. “I get nervous when things are going well, because I know in an instant everything can fly completely off the tracks. I long for stability, comfort and love but that’s not really what you get in this industry or this life. This song represents for me the moment where the chaos catches up with you. Sometimes you really just need to feel out of control to gain that control. I’m in control of being out of control.”
The upcoming EP, Femme Fatality, is poised to be a bold, unflinching exploration of womanhood: an “unapologetic, dark, and honest reflection” on themes such as body image, sexuality, infertility, self-worth, and the resilience that comes from navigating them. It’s pop with depth: introspective and cathartic while maintaining a razor-sharp, commercial edge. “‘Hot Mess Express’ is not pretty, it’s unhinged, it’s tongue-in-cheek but it represents something real: exhaustion, frustration, the pressure to always be okay, to be perfect, the weight we bear just being women. It’s about losing it and owning it at the same time. Sometimes, being a ‘mess’ is the most honest version of yourself—and the most dangerous.”
‘Hot Mess Express’ is out now.
