Royel Otis Releasing New Album, ‘hickey,’ In August

Get ready for more Royel Otis music sooner than later. Little more than a year after dropping their debut album PRATTS & PAIN, the Sydney duo has announced the forthcoming release of hickey. The group says its sophomore LP, due out Aug. 22, is so named “because love bites harder than any other emotion in the world.”

The world’s first taste of hickey came last month with the release of lead single “moody,” a song that lives up to its name with low-key summertime vibes, a contagious midtempo rhythm, and lyrics about a chaotic, addictive romance. The chorus begins with a series of laments about difficulty with a partner, then pivots: “But she’s my everything/ She’s all that I need/ Sometimes more than I want.” The track was produced by Blake Slatkin (Gracie Abrams, Omar Apollo, Charli XCX) and written by Slatkin, Amy Allen (Sabrina Carpenter), and Royel Otis bandmates Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic.

In addition to a new album on the way, Royel Otis will be bringing their live show to a wide range of venues across North America. Having already appeared at New York’s Governors Ball earlier this month, the duo has upcoming appearances booked at festivals including Chicago’s Lollapalooza and San Francisco’s Outside Lands. They’ll also launch their “meet me in the car” tour this summer. The itinerary will carry Maddell and Pavlovic across North America and Europe for the remainder of 2025.

Last year Rolling Stone called PRATTS & PAIN “a collection of propulsive, danceable indie pop,” praising it for “playful sonic trickery and fizzy, feel-good melodies.” Meanwhile The Guardian dubbed the band “indie’s next big thing” while recounting how the two of them fell together: “The band’s origin story feels fated: Maddell and Pavlovic ran in similar circles in the Bondi music scene for years but it wasn’t until 2019 that they started collaborating – and found a perfect collision of tastes and interests.”

Order Royel Otis’s album hickey now.