Melbourne singer/songwriter Daniel Shaw has mastered the art of the happy/sad pop song on his new single ‘drunk high low’, his first release through Island Records Australia.  On the surface it’s a wildly catchy tune that is poised to lodge itself inside your head upon impact. Scratch just below the surface, however, and there’s a darker story that inspired it.

Produced by Jarrad Rogers (Charlie XCX, Lana Del Ray, Mark Ronson) and Robby De Sa (MAY-A, 5SOS), Daniel says of his new single, “I battle with self-expression sometimes, I’m not good with uncomfortable situations and conflict, I run away from them. In this song I point out how my coping mechanism was to drink, I felt that anxiety and depression went away, and I could handle it, I was fine”.

Daniel wrote drunk high low after some (now resolved) family tension led to him leave his family home resulting in insolation and a lot of overthinking – and over drinking.

“I wasn’t in a good place, I’d moved out fairly suddenly, but the reason the song is called drunk high low is because it was just that cycle of getting drunk, feeling alright – which is the high – and then I went right back to feeling low and the cycle would start again.”

While Daniel jokes “I’m down on myself a lot in my songs” he not only enjoys the juxtaposition of happiness and tension in the song (“it’s the fight between what I’m letting out and what I’m feeling”) but also the fact the bridge factors in some positivity and light. “It’s great to have some hope in there, and I love the fact that while this song is personal for me, when people listen to it, they will apply it to different relationships and scenarios. I think it’s awesome when they can personalize it.”

Daniel’s ‘drunk high low’ single is accompanied by an official video directed by Melbourne film maker Renee Kypriotis and produced by Bella Millikin. 

At the age of 8, Daniel began busking on the streets of Melbourne, then as a teenager took on a DIY approach released his music independently. Daniel has now over six million streams of his own music/videos building a strong social media presence on all platforms, in particular TikTok with approximately half a million followers.   

Daniel has spent the last year writing songs for his new EP along with help from Chris Collins(Middle Kids,  Tyne-James Organ) Andy Hopkins (Cat + Calmell, Hauskey) as well as Robby De Sa and Jarrad Rogers. 

The EP will be released later this year, in the meantime Daniel can’t wait to get back to the live music scene, starting with some pop-up shows in July. 

Watch the ‘drunk high low’ Video Here: