Rainbow Kitten Surprise @ Mission Ballroom

Rainbow Kitten Surprise rocked the Mission Ballroom on June 1st, 2024. Madi Diaz warmed up the crowd, and the combo had the crowd moving all night long.

Madi Diaz

With Weird Faith, Madi Diaz, who “makes even the most immovable feelings open up with just a little time and space” (Pitchfork), comes up against a problem that has dogged songwriters since time immemorial: how do you write about romance, or love, without making it sentimental or fake? For Diaz, the answer was to explore how anxiety-inducing, if not downright humiliating, falling in love can be. Weird Faith says the record “chronicles a new relationship, but also a new relationship to myself.”

Madi Diaz has been making records and writing songs professionally since the late 2000s, but it wasn’t until she released 2021’s History Of A Feeling that she felt the glare of wider notoriety. It wasn’t her debut album, but it certainly felt like it. She made her daytime and nighttime television debuts, embarked on her first solo tour since 2014, supported Waxahatchee and Angel Olsen on tour, and collaborated with them on record. Harry Styles handpicked Diaz to open for him in arenas and stadiums in North America, and he asked her to be a member of his touring band to sing alongside him all over Europe and the UK, as well as continuing to open the show in various cities. After three months on the road touring internationally, Diaz is back in Nashville and gearing up to release her new album.

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Rainbow Kitten Surprise

As if channeling another dimension where genres simply don’t exist, Rainbow Kitten Surprise finds harmony in unpredictability—weaving together lyrical poetry, hummable melodies, and a rush of instrumental eccentricities. Preceded by tracks “LOL” and “Superstar,” the North Carolina-bred quartet’s forthcoming album LOVE HATE MUSIC BOX—the creative vision of singer/songwriter Ela Melo, guitarists Bozzy Keller and Ethan Goodpaster, and drummer Jess Haney as well as former bassist Charlie Holt—represents a brand-new awakening. Suddenly struck by creative intervention, songs once again poured out of her, writing at least one a day for an entire year and forming the backbone of their 22-track opus. Produced by Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves) along with Konrad Snyder (Noah Kahan) and Melo, the album ponders life’s ups and downs, and traces the turbulent trajectory of relationships, painted out loud in hues of pop, electronic, rock, and hip-hop.

Now boasting over 2 billion global streams, Rainbow Kitten Surprise first began building their devoted fanbase with independent albums SEVEN + MARY (2013) and RKS (2015), and in 2018, released their full-length debut for Elektra, HOW TO: FRIEND, LOVE, FREEFALL featuring the RIAA-certified Platinum single “It’s Called: Freefall.”

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