Mothica Announces New EP & Drops Heavy New Single “Save Your Roses”
Photo: Max Durante
LA-based singer, performer and visual artist MOTHICA (aka McKenzie Ellis) has announced her brand new EP Somewhere In Between, due for release on 20th February 2026. The EP marks her debut release on SharpTone Records, and sees the artist stepping into a darker, heavier and more emotionally exposed era than ever before.
To coincide with the announcement, Mothica has unleashed her latest single “Save Your Roses”, a crushing yet anthemic track that blends explosive guitars with raw vulnerability. The song arrives alongside an epic new music video, co-directed by Mothica and Ryan Joseph, continuing the striking visual world introduced in recent single “Evergreen Misery”.
“I wanted to write a song that on the surface sounds like it’s about a lover I’m pining after, but is actually about substances” Mckenzie explains. “The verses are about how intoxicating it is to lose yourself in drugs, and mirrors my experience with sobriety. The lyric in the chorus ‘Don’t save your roses for my grave’ is inspired by a conversation I had with a fan after one of my shows in Paris. They said ‘I believe we should give people their flowers while they’re here.’ That stuck with me–that we often tell people how much they mean to us only after they’re gone. It was fun to make this explosive, energetic production with Elliot Polokoff but layer that with lyrics that have a darkness to them.”
The video for “Save Your Roses” expands the surreal universe of Somewhere In Between, acting as a visual companion to “Evergreen Misery”.
“I wanted an energetic and fun performance set in the offices of Mothicorp,” McKenzie says. “We played with this idea of a surreal workplace with messy and bizarre cubicles – and there are even easter eggs from previous Mothica music videos hidden throughout.”
Since emerging as MOTHICA as a teenager, McKenzie has never shied away from confronting personal trauma head-on. From detailing a suicide attempt at age 15 on “forever fifteen”, to exposing an abusive youth pastor on fan-favourite “Buzzkill”, her brutally honest songwriting has resonated worldwide. That honesty has propelled her to hundreds of millions of streams, Billboard chart success with 2020’s VICES, and tours alongside heavyweights like Coheed & Cambria and Halestorm.
After getting sober, releasing three albums, relapsing, and then getting sober again, Somewhere In Between finds Mothica at her most intentional and self-aware yet. “Like a moth to a flame, I’ve been attracted to drugs, alcohol, and self-destruction,” she explains. “As Mothica grows, I’ve asked, ‘How can I make the darkness I’m attracted to be positive and utilize it as a vessel for sharing my story?’”
“I thought about quitting music,” she admits. “Finally, I thought, ‘Why don’t I channel these feelings into some angry music?’ I’ve always wanted to combine pop songwriting with grittier, heavier guitars.”
The EP captures a period of brutal vulnerability, processing sobriety, heartbreak, depression and self-worth.
“How do I exist in the middle?” she asks. “The lyrics are the most vulnerable and poetic I’ve ever written. I was finally able to process my emotions – and it was freeing.”
Somewhere In Between – EP Tracklist:
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Evergreen Misery
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WEAPON
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Save Your Roses
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BULLET
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Somewhere In Between