Blondshell launches new era with bruising single ‘Heart Has To Work So Hard’ and biggest UK, European and North American tour to date
The new dates include a stop at London's Roundhouse this December
by Poppy Burton · NMEBlondshell has dropped new single ‘Heart Has To Work So Hard’ and shared news of her biggest UK, European and North American tour dates yet – check below for all the details.
The Los Angeles musician – real name Sabrina Teitelbaum – dropped the song as the first taste of an upcoming album.
Employing her signature monotone and stirring lyrics, the track mimics the sound of an overworked heart and charts the fallout of a fraying friendship: “You give me paws / You get me scaring strangers / You get me criticising / You make this feel like labour / My heart has to work so hard when you’re around.”
Teitelbaum said the song was about “getting stuck in a dynamic” coloured by betrayal. “It’s about pain and confusion,” she explained. “No one trains you for the ups and downs of a friendship between two women, but it’s also about a love so enduring that you find compassion no matter what.”
The track marks her first new music since the release of last year’s ‘If You Asked For A Picture‘ and companion release ‘Another Picture’.
‘If You Asked For A Picture’ earned a four-star review from NME, which described the songs as “still as sharp and impactful, but focused more on the spaces in between her stories than the plots themselves.”
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Her latest single also coincides with news of a new headline tour of North America, Europe and the UK, with Blondshell’s stateside dates kicking off October 14 in San Diego, and wrapping on November 7 in Boston.
From there, she will go on to play her biggest ever UK headline to date at London’s Roundhouse in December, and will be joined by Bully, Starcleaner Reunion, Prewn, TTSSFU, and Theatre across select dates.
Tickets go on sale this Friday (May 22) at 10am local time. You can find yours here, as well as a full list of dates below.
Blondshell’s 2026 tour dates are:
June:
14 – Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival – Manchester, TN
July:
2 – Summerfest – Milwaukee, WI
August:
8- Maha Festival – Omaha, NE
October:
14 – Observatory North Park – San Diego, CA @
16 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA @%
17 – Castro Theatre – San Francisco, CA @
19 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR @
20 – Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA @
23 – Varsity – Minneapolis, MN $
24 – Vic Theater – Chicago, IL $
27 – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON $
28 – Beanfield Theatre – Montreal, QC $
31 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA $
November:
3 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC $
6 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY $≠
7 – House of Blues – Boston, MA $
December:
6 – Melkweg – Amsterdam, NL #
7 – Metropol – Berlin, DE #
8 – Ancienne Belgique – Brussels, BE #
10 – La Gaité Lyrique – Paris, FR #
12 – O2 Ritz – Manchester, UK #
13 – The Old Fruitmarket – Glasgow, UK #
15 – Roundhouse – London, EN #
17 – The Academy – Dublin, IE *
% w/ support from Bully
@ w/ support from Starcleaner Reunion
$ w/ support from Prewn
# w/ support from TTSSFU
* w/ support from Theatre
≠ w/ support from NoSo
Last year, NME spoke to Teitelbaum about her second album, ‘If You Asked For A Picture’ and the transition away from the searingly confessional tone of her self-titled 2023 debut. “I think I feel pretty masculine as a person, and my relationship with gender has been somewhat complicated,” she told us.
“On the first album, I wanted to show people who I was for the first time, and so it was important for me to really hit you over the head with it so that you understood who I am and how I feel inside. With this album, I realised that the idea I had that softness would cancel out my masculinity isn’t true. Not every moment of my life is spent being angry.”