Mallrat
Radio - Single
Album · Alternative · 2025
“I remember listening to this song when I was a teenager,” Mallrat tells Apple Music about Lana Del Rey’s “Radio.” “I often felt really isolated, and this song felt like a hopeful connection to my future self. I would listen to it and visualize my life being different. The lyrics are triumphant and remind me of how incredible it feels to defy people’s expectations,” she says of the song from Del Rey’s 2012 album Born to Die.
In a full-circle moment, the Brisbane artist has covered the track—one of her favorite songs from one of her favorite artists—reimagining it in her own sound and voice. “Women are constantly underestimated or expected to fit into very small and uncomfortable boxes. Growth and change are often discouraged,” she says. “This song reminds me of how wonderful it feels to break out of those boxes and move away from people and places that wanted to keep you small.”
With that in mind, Mallrat also shared a list of women who’ve inspired her—and who know plenty about defying expectations and forging their own paths. “Some of my personal heroes are Dolly Parton, Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson, Vivienne Westwood, Georgie Purcell, and Julia Fox,” she says. “If you don’t know much about these women it might seem like a shallow list. But if you do, you’ll realize that they are all authentic, clever, funny, compassionate, and relentless advocates for people, animals, and the environment. These women have consistently broken out of the boxes the world built for them, and I admire that they haven’t lost their compassion and authentic style in the process of overcoming those things.”