.

.

Photo – Jeremy Kees Orr

.

“Keelan Mak sounds like a zeitgeist-ready icon who has well and truly arrived” – Dave Ruby Howe, triple j

“Pop music that’s polished, catchy and straight from the heart. What more could you want?! I, for one, am welcoming this new Keelan Mak era with open arms.” – Abby Butler, triple j

“Vulnerable and endearing… Australia’s best-kept secret” – Notion (UK)

“..pumped it with enough sultry energy and lyrical integrity to keep listeners both grounded and sky-high at the same time.” – Purple Sneakers

“the sonical love child of Cub Sport and Troye Sivan” – Thomas Bleach

.

.

Melbourne artist Keelan Mak returns with brand-new track ‘Naked Eye’, the perfect blend of pop and melancholy, out today via [PIAS] Australia.

The single was created in a writing session with Troye Sivan, Leland, and Vetta Borne at 301 Studios during 2023 Sydney World Pride. Keelan comments, “There was something really special about having four queer writers in a room, telling a queer love story. The energy in that room was safe, and we all got the memo.”

Listen to ‘NAKED EYE’ HERE

Keelan discusses the new single, “Naked Eye is about that little bit of love you keep for someone after everything’s done and dusted. I dropped this boy off at an airport, we cried, and I missed him a lot. Things eventually faded and life went on but there was always this little smidge of hope in me that we’d meet again.”

The concept behind the video was inspired by real life events where a love interest had to move back home. The visuals for the latest track were shot on a farmstead an hours drive out of Naarm/Melbourne, with the temperature dropping at night and wind picking up it became gruelling to shoot. Keelan says, “I had Jeremy wrapped in a blanket between takes because the poor thing was wearing this paper thin issey miyake top. The things we do for art.”

.

.

Discussing the process, Keelan says, “The story is meant to be cute and cliché. We didn’t want to overdo it and create an unattainable fantasy. He has a boring life, and for a moment, it’s made a little better by this person. Throughout the clip, you see them both come out of their shell and get comfier with each other. On the final night, the alien leaves without a word. I didn’t feel the need for any dialogue at the end, it made a lot more sense to me to leave it open ended, because it felt the most similar to my real life experience with that person.”

‘Naked Eye’ is the first release since his sophomore EP Brave Face which received massive support from triple j Home & Hosed and Good Nights, added to triple j Unearthed, named as part of Apple Music’s UP NEXT ANZ Campaign, plus was featured across Pilerats, The Music, Music Feeds, Acid Stag, and 10 Magazine Australia.

An ever-changing force in motion, Keelan Mak walks the fine line between the feelings of melancholia and enlightenment; music where melody is blended with consciousness in a fragile form of expression.

.

.

Follow KEELAN MAK
TIKTOK – INSTAGRAM – FACEBOOK
 YOUTUBE – SPOTIFY – APPLE

.

AMNPLIFY – DB