The opening to “Dirty Money” will immediately grab listeners and confirm that this indisputable viking punk Queen Ida Maria has retained the same rebellious attitude that got her in the game, while referencing the lifestyle of an industry’s enabling that took her out of the game for a brief time.
Featuring a punk blast of garage guitar, ‘Dirty Money’ carries the high-energy punk-pop Ida’s been widely acclaimed for with cheeky lyrics that are sugar-coated with a highly addictive chorus, addressing much more serious topics that are frustrating to her. Ida’s personal experiences with greed and corruption are detailed with a racket of petulant screams, among them “Pay me all your Dirty oney/I’m your favorite monkey/watch me go!!!”
A pointed critique of capitalism, “Dirty Money” looks at the ways that money and greed corupt us all on some level, despite our best efforts to the contrary. “Everybody wants to be/Full make up and on TV/Talking ‘bout your jealousy/Mom I know I look insane/But they all promised me champagne/Swear they want me for my brain,’ Ida Maria belts out, infusing her innocent fury with snarky giggles that are reminiscent of a taunting childhood chant, as if to say, “Look at me now.”
When she’s not writing or recording music, Ida is head of her local Green Party, devoting herself to spreading a politically urgent message of ecological sustainability, which references her underlying themes to “Dirty Money” –- making this song not only truly relevant, but also timely.
“Dirty Money” “is about stolen land and Bitcoin. It’s about the oil wars in Nigeria. It´s the mining in Congo, slavery for iPhones. Anything that the greedy human mind turns to to try and fulfill that hole of nothingness, it’s about the Matrix. Get off the grid! Let’s do something that doesn’t cost money. The best things in life are for free!” Ida Maria exclaims.
Maria adds, “If your dreams are based on superficial values, then reaching your dreams might put you in something that feels like an empty deep dark hole of nothingness. If you stay in the hole you´ll have wasted your life. The trick is to realize that everything is an illusion, and you might as well make a meaning out of it all yourself. So in this song I´m criticizing myself or anyone really for believing that you can find salvation in things like money, drugs and fame. Or status, material goods, power and so on. The song is a follow up and kind of about the fall from grace from being so ‘busy’.”
An established artist with several albums and world tours to her credit, Ida Maria proves yet again that she is a force to be reckoned with, musically and politically. She’s not calling this a return or comeback, It’s just how life’s journey works sometimes.
Dirty Money EP
Track Listing:
1. I’m Busy
2. Dirty Money
3. Sick Of You
4. Celebration
5. California
About Ida Maria:
Having established herself early in her life as a major label rock n roll artists with breakout hits like 2007’s “Oh My God,” and 2008’s “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked” from her debut album Fortress ‘Round My Heart, Ida Maria returned to Norway in 2013 after becoming disillusioned with the music industry and the major label system. An iconoclast by nature, Ida Maria struggled to fit the industry’s perception of her, at one point literally smashing an award she received. “A girl can’t put out music on a major platform without going through some twisted insane beauty ideal that doesn’t correspond with my own ideals of what a woman can be. A woman is a complex creature. There are not enough complex female role voices out there,” she states. Despite the struggle to work within the system, Maria managed to release her third album, Accidental Happiness. Her fourth album Scandalize My Name followed in 2016. Since then, she has been devoting herself to farming, building a studio, making music on her own terms, and looking inward for self-growth.
Those familiar with Ida will recall the massive global critical acclaim she received starting with her debut album Fortress Round My Heart. While overseas she was coined as the “Indie Rocker It Girl,” stateside comparisons were flowing: Pitchfork pointed out her “commanding presence and sexual authority,” calling her debut “An awesome Joplin-meets-the-Hold-Steady LP,” NPR compared her “garage pop” to a “Spunkier Beth Orton fronting The Strokes,” while Rolling Stone claimed she’s akin to “Nico-meets-Chrissie Hynde,” and along with Elle they called her “Norway’s hottest Punk-Rock export.” Comparisons aside, one thing for sure is that her voice demands attention.
