Madi Diaz Releases New Single/Video, “Why’d You Have To Bring Me Flowers” From Fatal Optimist, New Album Out This Friday On ANTI—
Madi Diaz releases “Why’d You Have To Bring Me Flowers,” the final preview from her new album, Fatal Optimist, out this Friday via ANTI-. Following “Heavy Metal,” in which “Diaz sings about realizing that she’s starting to look like her mother, forcing herself through dark patches, and turning her own heart into heavy metal,” (Stereogum) “Why’d You Have to Bring Me Flowers” is a melancholic country song. Diaz chronicles her not-so-proud moments with gall-force clarity, grabbing the listener from the very first line: “My toxic trait is hanging on, your toxic trait is showing up.” Just because Diaz chose herself doesn’t mean her heart isn’t broken, too. But she takes it as a sign that, at her core, she still believes in love.
Watch the Video for “Why’d You Have To Bring Me Flowers”
Following 2021’s breakthrough History of a Feeling and 2024’s two-time Grammy nominated Weird Faith, Diaz is now asking audiences to lean in close. Fatal Optimist is her album most likely to haunt you with its starkness. In Diaz’s words, “Fatal Optimism is the innate hope for something magical. It’s the weird faith that kicks in while knowing that there is just plain risk that comes with wanting someone or something. It’s when you have no control over the outcome, but still choose to experience every moment that happens, and put your whole heart in it.”
After ending a relationship with someone she once envisioned marrying, Diaz turned away from everyone and everything she knew and took herself to an island. Her time alone emerged as a powerful, insightful period of introspection. Rage, embarrassment and romantic grief shifted into inner wholeness and the pieces of Fatal Optimist started falling into place.
Recorded with co-producer Gabe Wax (Soccer Mommy, Zach Bryan) at his Infinite Family Studio, the album needed to mirror that isolation. “This was the first time in my career that I stayed in this heavy place with the songs after leaving the studio rather than trying to escape it,” she says. While you’ll find subtle accompaniment from an occasional baritone guitar or bass, Fatal Optimist comes down to Diaz alone in a room with her acoustic guitar. Simplicity can be much more difficult to nail than camouflaging a song with layers of production, and it is exactly what these songs needed.
Next week, Diaz will embark on an extensive North American tour. A full list of dates is below, and tickets are now available here.