Leanne Hoffman performs a tightrope walk between the sensual immediacy of pop music and poetry’s revelatory nuance on her upcoming album, The Text Collector. Using the swirling melodies and glitzed-up production of Top 40, The Nova Scotia-based multidisciplinary artist builds tension between soundscapes primed for pure pleasure and lyrics that address the interconnected relationship between desire and despair.

“Pity Party” is one of many songs on the album that was born from 365 poems that Hoffman wrote over the course of the year, from her poetry collection also called The Text Collector. Because of the gap in time from when the lyrics started out as poetry, Hoffman realized that she had a new perspective by the time they became songs. 

Though Hoffman usually writes a lot of emotionally complicated lyrics and sad songs, this one is just a frivolous way of poking fun at the party poopers in your life. 

“Everyone knows someone that seems to always be bringing the good vibes down,” says Hoffman. “No matter what, they just aren’t happy, especially if everyone else is. I think it can be really tiring to deal with someone like that, but I wanted to write something fun and unbothered, something to say, ‘You’re not going to ruin this for me.’”