joan - 'don't wanna be your friend'

Acclaimed alt-pop duo joan has released their highly anticipated video for “don’t wanna be your friend” out now via Photo Finish Records.

joan (Alan Benjamin Thomas and Steven Rutherford) have spent the past few years building their world, single by single, tour date by tour date; from their debut EP, 2019’s 'portra', to the much-loved cloudy and its sister EP 'partly cloudy', to 2021's 'hi & bye' EPs. Their songs have been streamed over 120 million times, with well over a million listeners a month across streaming platforms.

'don’t wanna be your friend' was created after the band returned home from their biggest headline tour yet. Confiding, "Co-written with their friend Jon Capeci from the band Nightly, “don’t wanna be your friend” details the all too relatable feeling of being in a relationship with someone you love and feel close to but knowing that you need to move on as that person is not the right one for you. joan further reveals, “it’s also about growing up though and knowing that you just can’t continue being friends with each other, because you know how that situation turns out. hope this song resonates with you in some way - makes you realize you need to cut that person out of your life, makes you move, makes you want to start a band, makes you want to call your best friend :).” 

'don’t wanna be your friend' features colorful synths over electronic-dipped landscapes and dream-filled melodies culminating into a sing-a-long worthy chorus. The song is a standout and empowering pop anthem all about moving on. The accompanying video shows joan’s light hearted and comedic side complete with an alien invasion to boot. 

joan’s infectious blend of pop eras and styles belies their roots in Little Rock, Arkansas, but their sense of warmth and community from those around them at home gives their music a sense of belonging often missing from others’ and that extends to their fanbase, with whom they interact via a successful Patreon page and through free meet and greets at every show.

Connect with joan,

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