Mary Middlefield Shares Explosive New Single “Wake Up!”

Rising indie-rock talent Mary Middlefield starts the year with her explosive new single “Wake Up!”, out now on all streaming platforms. The track is a confrontational and high-voltage release that pushes her sound into darker, more abrasive territory.

Built on thunderous drums, jagged indie guitars and a vocal that refuses to soften the blow, “Wake Up!” captures the moment where restraint collapses and raw emotion takes over. Urgent and unflinching, the song unfolds as a spiralling inner monologue in which bitterness, self-disgust and projection blur into one volatile voice.

The repeated commands and cutting refrains feel deliberately abrasive, mirroring the claustrophobic headspace of someone lashing out while fully aware of their own ugliness. It is not provocation for shock value, but a brutally honest portrait of emotional collapse, loud, ugly, self-aware and impossible to ignore, as Middlefield attempts to shed her own skin.

The official music video places Mary in a fractured, enclosed space that mirrors the song’s internal chaos. Opening with her moving erratically in front of multiple mirrors, barefoot and grounded across the floor, she is both performer and observer, watching herself unfold on an old television screen. Flashing lights heighten the sense of disorientation, while positioning Mary as a solitary female presence standing her ground, fully aware of her own agency. The recurring use of reflections in mirrors, water and distorted surfaces reinforces the sense of self-confrontation, as if she is delivering a brutal but necessary reckoning to herself. Watch HERE.

Speaking on the track, Middlefield explains:
“I wrote ‘Wake Up!’ from a place where empathy shuts down and contempt takes over, including contempt for myself. The language is extreme because the headspace is extreme, not because it is meant to incite violence or wish harm on anyone. It is about how self-loathing can rot into something loud, ugly and confrontational, especially when you project it outward. The song does not celebrate that mindset or offer redemption. It exposes it. It is the sound of catching yourself at your worst and letting the tape keep rolling.”

“Wake Up!” follows Mary’s breakout singles “The Feast”, “Summer Affair”, “Will You Read My Mind” and “Bite Me”, which earned playlist covers and radio support from BBC Radio 2, 6 Music, Radio X, SIRIUSXM and beyond. Named one of Spotify’s 2025 Artists to Watch, she is now putting the final touches on her second album, a bold and deeply personal record exploring identity, self-ownership and what it means to belong to yourself.

Middlefield’s rapidly rising profile has been matched by critical acclaim, with praise from Hunger, The Line of Best Fit, Noctis, Wonderland and BBC Introducing. She has already made her mark on major stages, with standout performances at Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz Festival, Sofar Sounds and the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, cementing her reputation as one of the most compelling new voices in contemporary indie music.

The track was co-written alongside Anna Borkenhagen and Yvan Vindret, and brought vividly to life by fellow co-writer and producer Gwen Buord. Together, they frame Mary’s dramatic songwriting in sweeping sonic textures, with swelling orchestration and a vocal performance that refuses to hide.

“Wake Up!” is out now on all streaming platforms.