Taiwanese-Australian singer, producer, songwriter, and multimedia artist Jaguar Jonze unveils her highly anticipated debut album BUNNY MODE, out now. Featuring the explosive “WHO DIED AND MADE YOU KING, “CUT,” Eurovision contender “LITTLE FIRES,” and more, BUNNY MODE is a personal triumph of resilience and incredible creative work on which the world-building artistry of Jaguar Jonze shines through.
Alongside the album’s release comes a new video directed, produced, and edited by Jaguar Jonze accompanying the arena-sized anthem “SWALLOW,” a blistering new track that sees Jaguar Jonze flip the male-gaze on its head. A visual continuation of “LITTLE FIRES”, also tying in with the BUNNY MODE cover art, the provocative yet tongue-in-cheek clip sees Jaguar Jonze again playing with shibari, emulating a spider with its prey.
“I wanted the ‘SWALLOW’ clip to be comedic, controversial, and fun. Embodying a sex cyborg doll with a faulty processing chip was my sardonic statement as a woman of color minced up by the patriarchy and its fetishization of Asian women. Be turned on, be confused, and question those trains of thought,” Jaguar Jonze explains.
LISTEN/EMBED: BUNNY MODE
A powerful feminist work exploring her journey as an assault survivor, an advocate for change, and a figure on the frontline of Australia’s #MeToo movement, BUNNY MODE sees Jaguar Jonze radiate confidence, finding strength in vulnerability and tackling dark topics with lightness and humour. Together with her band, she has created a unique and cinematic patchwork of stadium pop and industrial noise, laced with punchy-punk energy.
Throughout the album, Jaguar Jonze moves past an old coping mechanism that she calls “going bunny mode” – becoming still and quiet instead of crying out in response to physical, psychological, and emotional threats. “This album is a journey of saying goodbye to that ‘bunny mode,'” she says. “Making this album has been this process of saying – thank you for saving me and allowing me to survive up until this point, but I don’t need you anymore.” The album is also a love letter to music itself – she explains, “Most things I did in my life, I did for survival. But, making music was the complete opposite: it was a gift and permission to myself to create, live passionately, and say what I was feeling. It was passion, intimacy, rawness, and connection; it completely changed my life. It made me feel human.”
BUNNY MODE finds Jaguar Jonze triumphant, unwilling to be complicit in a culture of silence and speak up to an industry banking on her staying quiet. “I’ve given myself permission to feel the emotions that I’ve been holding back on for so long, to find my voice and use it in this world,” she says, “Because I know my worth now. And I do have something to say.”
