Helena Deland Releases New Single, Video - "How Do You Like Me Now?"
Montreal songwriter Helena Deland has shared “How Do You Like Me Now?,” her newest single, accompanied by a video directed by Jodi Heartz and Alex Blouin. Later this month, Deland will join her friend Hana Stretton for a handful of solo North American shows as well.
The song begins with a small act of trespass. At a party, Deland drifts toward the margins of the room and notices a notebook belonging to the host. She tells herself she would never read it, while simultaneously imagining the thrill of being caught. Then the fantasy turns: What if the notebook was left there to be found? That possibility gives “How Do You Like Me Now?” its strange intimacy. The notebook becomes a stand-in for the songwriter’s own private world - something written in solitude, then released into the hands of strangers, where it can be examined, interpreted, and misunderstood.
“I wonder to which extent the authors of posthumously published diaries were writing with a vague audience in mind,” Deland says. “Here, I’m convincing myself that a person I admire, very much still alive, has written everything down in their notebook in the hopes of it being found. When that day finally came, they’d say, ‘That’s right. There I am. How do you like me now?’”
LISTEN to “How Do You Like Me Now” HERE
WATCH the "How Do You Like Me Now" video HERE
Helena Deland’s music has always seemed to exist somewhere between intimacy and exposure. Her 2020 debut, "Someone New," introduced a songwriter drawn to the uneasy space between what is kept private and what is offered up for interpretation. She followed it in 2023 with "Goodnight Summerland," released through Chivi Chivi, deepening that sense of emotional ambiguity while expanding her already idiosyncratic sound.
Much of Deland’s work has unfolded collaboratively. With Montreal musician Ouri, she formed Hildegard, a project that has yielded two albums: 2021’s "Hildegard" and 2024’s "Jour 1596." She has also worked with Men I Trust, JPEGMAFIA, Jonah Yano, Sam Evian, and claire rousay, moving fluidly between scenes and sensibilities. This past April, Will Oldham shared a video of himself performing “The Animals,” a song from "Goodnight Summerland" - an unexpected echo of how far Deland’s songs can travel once they leave her hands.
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