Eden Iris Shares Soulful Video for Third Single “Worse Things”

Every six weeks Eden Iris will release a new single. Timed perfectly, when these tracks run dry it will be just in time for the release of the singer and songwriter’s debut album, out May 2020. For her third single, “Worse Things,” the New Zealand-native, who has been living and recording in Los Angeles for four years, teamed up with songwriter Maia Sharp (Cher, Art Garfunkel, Bonnie Rait).

Videos by American Songwriter

Co-writing with Sharp was just standard for Iris, who has already surrounded herself with some big talent since relocating to LA, including collaborations with Grammy-nominated songwriters like Bruce Lynch (Kate Bush, Cat Stevens), Jamie Candiloro (Ryan Adams, R.E.M), and Rune Westberg, (Colbie Callait), since releasing her first EP, Demons, last year.

Iris, who recorded and co-produced Demons from her home studio, also pulled together another EP, Dream Colored Life, this fall—her interpretation of a collection of New Zealand-inspired tracks from 1999, written by Kiwi songwriter Rick Watt.

The new album is already assembling as a mix of the singer’s meditations on love, life, and other perceptions. First single, “Dancing with a Ghost,” slows down, and gets more melodic from the dance floor mixes by Sunlounger (Roger Shah) in 2017, while second single “Birthday Baby,” co-written by fellow New Zealander Emily Edrosa, is a folkier, moodier, and acoustic-wrapped track on love not quite requited. 

Translucent and delicate, Iris’ soulful vocals take on an ethereal depth in “Worse Things” that keep the song moving and in awareness of the lyrics. Shot in Malibu, such a natural environment for the “Worse Things” video was nothing but inspiring for Iris.

Directed by David B. Baron, the video plays to the lyrics as a self-talk, de-stresser, and manager of the pressures of life—all with a little help from nature to help put things into perspective with clarifying chorus worse things have happened…to way better people than me. 

“Lyrically, in “Worse Things,” there are times when I’m talking to myself and that kind of feels like something I would do when I’m by myself at the beach—think about my problems and tell myself to get over them,” Iris tells American Songwriter. “Nature can definitely help us zoom out to find the bigger picture, and it’s hard to resist that feeling of insignificance when you’re looking at a gorgeous sunset.”

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