The Admired

About the Artist

The Admired are the band playing the last song at the high school dance, or blasting from your older sister’s bedroom in the mid-00s, telling you it all works out in the end and she’s going to be okay. The Sydney emo-pop revivalists and Y2K connoisseurs have released their shimmering, nostalgic new single ‘Opposites (Make It Work)’, alongside a noughties-era inspired music video directed by Max Pasalic. Romantic, dreamy, and steeped in youthful sentimentality, ‘Opposites’ feels just as at home in a 2000s coming-of-age film as it does on today’s pop and alternative playlists. It captures the whirlwind experience of falling for someone, from the butterflies of a new love and the glimmers of a future together that feels just within reach, to the overthinking and disagreements that lead to anxiously waiting by the phone. Stepping outside of the home studio in which the band came to be almost 18 months ago, vocalist Bianca Davino and guitarist Max Jacobson teamed up with producer Nat Sherwood (Stand Atlantic, Yours Truly) to take their sound somewhere bigger, brighter and more emotionally layered. “We wanted to develop a sound that evoked the yearning of the Y2K era - a time marked by being on the precipice of the unknown,” says Davino. “In the early 00s, we were all so excited about the future, which I think is starkly different to how our generation feels today. The sound and aesthetic of that time is so brightly optimistic, and when we look back on it with rose-coloured glasses, there’s something bittersweet about it because we know what the outcome of the future is now.” Cutting their teeth as the core members of Australian pop-punk outfit Grenade Jumper, Bianca and Max have previously toured nationally alongside the likes of Yours Truly, RedHook, Between You & Me, Bakers Eddy, and many more. Grenade Jumper’s collaborations with Trophy Eyes (‘Did You Imagine’) and Dear Seattle (‘Fluorescent’) earned rotation on triple j, and the band went on to perform at Unify Gathering, sell out multiple hometown shows, and embark on headline national tours. With The Admired, however, they’re building something far more layered and personal, driven by a strong visual identity and a world designed to pull listeners further into the project. Through their music they bring together an array of Y2K pop-rock influences, pulling from the likes of Goo Goo Dolls, Britney Spears and late ’90s electronic pastiches to create something nostalgic yet uniquely theirs. While rooted in a distinctly ’00s revivalist sound, The Admired lean into a more contemporary, left-of-centre sensibility that sees them sit comfortably within the new wave of alt-pop alongside artists like After, Julia Wolf, and Tiffany Day. The Admired have already brought their diverse palette of influences on stage, supporting WAAX, Origami Angel (US), John Floreani, The Beautiful Monument, GRXCE, and Bukowski over the past year. This weekend, the two-piece will bring the project interstate for the first time, joining rising Adelaide pop-punk band Down and Out on tour in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. Keep up with The Admired for more shows to be announced soon.