Tove Lo DNH

With “DNH” (a.k.a. “Drunk n’ Horny”), the third single (following “I’m Your Girl, Right?” and “Des Fleurs”) from Tove Lo’s upcoming sixth album, Estrus, there is an undeniable callback to the song that put her on the international map: “Habits (Stay High).” Originally self-released in 2013, the song then went on to appear on both her 2014 EP, Truth Serum, and her 2014 debut album, Queen of the Clouds. As it continued to gain traction on the charts, a remix of the song from Hippie Sabotage was also released in 2014 and had the kind of effect on the increasing success of the single that Cedric Gervais’ remix of “Summertime Sadness” did for Lana Del Rey—much to her dismay. Tove Lo, on the other hand, fully embraced the popularity of the remix and offered Hippie Sabotage the chance to make their unofficial upload official, even releasing a repurposed video of the original “Habits (Stay High)” that worked better with the tempo of the remix.

In its more well-known remix guise, Tove Lo and Hippie Sabotage captured the essence of what it meant to be drunk, sad and horny all at the same time (and needing lots and lots more alcohol/other drugs in order to cope with such heavy feelings). Because even when one is mourning the loss of a true love, it doesn’t stop the power of alcohol from not only numbing the pain, but also rendering one into “slut mode.” Therefore, “fucking the pain away” (or at least trying to), as Peaches would call it. Something Tove Lo has spoken on eloquently for years. And maybe, as such an expert in the subject matter, she’s now gained the ability to speak on it with more objectivity and humor. Which is certainly how “DNH” comes across. Because, this time around, rather than singing from a first-person perspective regarding “stayin’ in my play pretend/Where the fun ain’t got no end,” Tove frames the song as if talking to her best friend. The hot mess that she keeps having to pick up after, whether literally or figuratively.

The kind of girl who leaves a trail of carnage and vomit in her wake after reaching a certain point in the night. And yet, nonetheless, the kind of girl that Tove Lo is a “ride or die” for. In short, the dynamic she describes on 2019’s “Glad He’s Gone” from Sunshine Kitty. Speaking on her best friend’s shitty boyfriend and how she’s better off without him, Tove advises, “Wanna get over? Get under.” This signaling the type of “going out on the town” behavior that “DNH” is all about. Almost as if the woman Tove is describing in “Glad He’s Gone” has answered her lyrics, “I miss your madness, you’re kinda ratchet/We used to go out every night, get into bad shit,” by coming back with a vengeance. Thus, Tove singing on “DNH,” “You’re crying harder, kick us out [a line that evokes the imagery of “Habits”]/You’re still my best friend when you ruin my night.” In fact, Tove wouldn’t have it any other way. Because, as a fellow messy bitch, she surely wouldn’t want to hang out with someone boring. Or worse still, concerned with what other people think of her.

Just as Tove certainly isn’t. As reiterated in the accompanying visual for “DNH,” for which Tove chose to include footage of herself from “A Night in Estrus,” her “immersive” listening event at Warsaw in Greenpoint on July 23rd. The first scene shows an almost zombielike-in-her-fixation Tove moving through the space in search of something or someone, peeping into the men’s room along the way. She then emerges through a gauzy white curtain to march toward the crowd, her black cape removed by the dancers that flank her to reveal the kind of latex bikini Madonna sported in the video for “Human Nature.” The crowd continues to go wild as Tove then moves in a circle to flip the hoods off of each of the dancers (or maybe “human props” is the better phrase, since none of them do much dancing) surrounding the table filled with candles. A set design meant to emulate her album cover, on which she kneels before an altar filled with candles and cat figurines. And yes, there’s a real black cat perched at the center looking down at her, almost as if deciding whether Tove is “worthy” of something.

But the audience in the crowd at Warsaw definitely seemed to think she was, watching as she continued to get all “Tove” by letting two of the male dancers rub up against her after lifting her onto the altar—not to mention letting two female dancers literally stay down at heel. Both sets of dancers then look as if they might start making out, channeling the kind of “in heat” vibe that Tove is going for with Estrus. Indeed, to the point of being horny, Tove stated that “DNH” was the first song that came to her for Estrus, which is part of why it has that “shot out of a cannon” sort of energy to it. A thumping, throbbing bassline (co-produced by A Strut, TimFromTheHouse and Oscar Holter) that finds Tove telling her messy friend she should make no apologies for that messiness, assuring, “I promise I love you and this isn’t an attack/At the end of the night, I’m the one holding your hair back.” She then sums up her friend’s entire “nighttime personality” as she might have done her own in the “Habits (Stay High)” era: “You’re drunk and horny in the crowd/You need attention, let your tears come down.”

And though there are more than occasional traces of resentment in between (e.g., “‘Cause I came here to dance/But you’re changing my plans/Now I’m stuck in the corner sober” and “Taking the shots/Every one that I buy/Guess that I’m gonna help/When you get in a fight”), it’s apparent that no one understands a messy bitch and her need to be messy in order to “emotionally process” better than Tove Lo.