Jaguar Jonze releases debut album 'BUNNY MODE'

Alongside the album's release comes a new video directed, produced, and edited by Jaguar Jonze accompanying the arena-sized anthem 'SWALLOW', a blistering new track that sees Jaguar Jonze flip the male-gaze on its head. A visual continuation of 'LITTLE FIRES', also tying in with the 'BUNNY MODE' cover art, the provocative yet tongue-in-cheek clip sees Jaguar Jonze again playing with shibari, emulating a spider with its prey.                                                                                                                                                                                     

"I wanted the 'SWALLOW' clip to be comedic, controversial, and fun. Embodying a sex cyborg doll with a faulty processing chip was my sardonic statement as a woman of color minced up by the patriarchy and its fetishization of Asian women. Be turned on, be confused, and question those trains of thought," Jaguar Jonze explains.

A powerful feminist work exploring her journey as an assault survivor, an advocate for change, and a figure on the frontline of Australia's #MeToo movement, 'BUNNY MODE' sees Jaguar Jonze radiate confidence, finding strength in vulnerability and tackling dark topics with lightness and humor. Together with her band, she has created a unique and cinematic patchwork of stadium pop and industrial noise, laced with punchy-punk energy.                                                                                                                                                                                 

Throughout the album, Jaguar Jonze moves past an old coping mechanism that she calls "going bunny mode" becoming still and quiet instead of crying out in response to physical, psychological, and emotional threats. "This album is a journey of saying goodbye to that 'bunny mode'," she says. "Making this album has been this process of saying -thank you for saving me and allowing me to survive up until this point, but I don't need you anymore." The album is also a love letter to music itself, she explains, "Most things I did in my life, I did for survival. But, making music was the complete opposite: it was a gift and permission to myself to create, live passionately, and say what I was feeling. It was passion, intimacy, rawness, and connection; it completely changed my life. It made me feel human."                                                                                                                                                        

'BUNNY MODE' finds Jaguar Jonze triumphant, unwilling to be complicit in a culture of silence and speak up to an industry banking on her staying quiet. "I've given myself permission to feel the emotions that I've been holding back on for so long, to find my voice and use it in this world," she says, "Because I know my worth now. And I do have something to say."

"..nothing short of a manifold visionary" (Flaunt), Brisbane-based Jaguar Jonze has had a non-stop two years, becoming a public vessel for change and accountability in the Australian music industry while simultaneously focusing on her creative artistry. Her recent singles have received praise from Rolling Stone, triple j, MTV, and NME, and she was named a featured artist on BBC Radio 1's Future Artists with Jack Saunders. In honor of her advocacy to raise awareness of discrimination and abuse within the Australian music industry and pushing practitioners to operate in a safe and respectful environment, Jaguar Jonze has been awarded the triple j Done Good Award, AIR Outstanding Achievement Award, Australian Women in Music Change Maker Award, named one of the 21 Most Inspiring Women of 2021 by Vogue Australia and recently named in The Australia's inaugural Top 100 cultural changemakers list.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Jaguar Jonze continues her advocacy work, including the group that commissioned the Music Industry Review of sexual harm, sexual harassment, and systemic discrimination in the contemporary Australian music industry and recommendations for reform. As best described in her own words, "the heat that is picking up and fanning those tiny fires into a blaze of reckoning".                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Listen to 'BUNNY MODE' here