St. South Shares New Single “getting bad again”; Launches Global Remix Competition
May 9, 2025 BY Emma Orland
Australian indie electronic artist St. South (Olivia Gavranich, she/they) unveils “getting bad again”, a raw, soul-stirring new single that threads together soft, lo-fi textures with honest, vulnerable storytelling. The release marks her first new music of 2025 and arrives alongside the launch of a global remix competition celebrating her breakout single “Slacks”, which is fast approaching 50 million streams worldwide.
For an artist known for their intimate songwriting and lush, layered production, this dual release is a moment of reflection and evolution. St. South is paying homage to her own creative origins while showcasing just how far she’s come as an artist, producer, and storyteller, across more than a decade of growth that still feels like just the beginning.
WATCH & SHARE: “GETTING BAD AGAIN” BY ST. SOUTH
https://stsouth.ffm.to/gettingbadagain
On “getting bad again”, St. South captures the quiet ache of slipping backwards. It’s a soft spiral, soundtracked by dreamy production and gently layered harmonies, with lyrics that drift between self-awareness and detachment, meeting at the moment when sadness doesn’t quite announce itself, it just quietly resumes.
“‘getting bad again’ is about navigating mental health – both my own, and the heaviness of almost losing people I love to their own mental health. The verses reflect how things show up for me when I’m not doing well – sleeping in, isolating myself to regulate – and learning to be patient with myself in spite of it. The chorus flips the narrative by becoming a plea to the people I’ve nearly lost, saying ‘maybe you could stay alive? I need you to stay alive.’ The lyric ‘maybe if it’s on my chin’ is a reference to the saying ‘take it on the chin’ – that pressure to toughen up and push through,” St. South shares.
“With so many of my listeners based in the US, releasing this during Mental Health Awareness Month feels important – especially as a queer, gender-diverse artist, at a time when our community is being actively undermined by political decisions. This song is about recognising where you’re at, and still choosing to live.”
“getting bad again” follows St. South’s 2024 EP BIG SADS, a release born from a period of intense personal transformation, grief, and reconnection. Where BIG SADS was a tender exhale, “getting bad again” is the inevitable, shaky inhale that follows – the uneasy moment when old feelings creep back in, despite your best efforts to stay ahead of them.
WATCH: “SLACKS” BY ST. SOUTH:
As her breakout single “Slacks” nears 50 million streams worldwide, St. South is marking the moment by turning back to her roots – launching a global remix competition. First released on triple j Unearthed in 2012, and later placed on The Vampire Diaries, “Slacks” found an audience around the world. Now, with the track approaching a major streaming milestone, there’s only one way St. South could truly mark the occasion – by paying homage to their own origins, which began when she won the Bon Iver Stems Project for her first remix “Wash” over a decade ago.
“It feels like coming full circle,” St. South says. “A remix competition launched my career as a producer, and now I want to offer that same opportunity to others.”
Open to anyone – regardless of experience level – the competition invites producers and creatives to reimagine “Slacks” in their own unique voice. Participants will receive access to the original stem files, with no genre restrictions.
She shares, “You don’t need to be a producer to enter. When I entered the Bon Iver Stems Project, I had never produced anything in my life, I was writing acoustic folk songs at the time. I downloaded the stems and GarageBand in the same week and spent the next two weeks learning how to use the DAW while chopping up and rearranging stems. I didn’t know what a sample pack was or know how to add my own production elements, so every single part of my remix was created using just Bon Iver’s stems. All you need is curiosity and creativity.”
The winning remix will be officially released via Nettwerk Music Group (St. South, Mallrat, Angus & Julia Stone, James Vincent McMorrow, The Paper Kites), with additional prizes including an Arturia Keylab Essential 49 mk3, a St. South merch pack, and a 1-on-1 production session with an Ableton Certified Trainer.
FIND ALL THE DETAILS TO ENTER THE
“SLACKS” REMIX COMPETITION HERE
In keeping with her own story, St. South is encouraging entries that experiment boldly – chop the vocals, pitch-shift the hook, add your own verses, just make something that feels real.
She says, “I’m a sucker for a fresh take on a classic, or a new verse with different vocals. There’s something comforting and exciting about a song being both familiar and new. I want people to take “Slacks” and make it their own. Make something that sounds good to you, not something you think will sound good to others.”
COMPETITION DETAILS:
Competition opens: Friday May 9 (9am AEST)
Submission deadline: Friday June 6 (11.30pm AEST)
PRIZES:
Winner:
- Your remix will be officially released via Nettwerk Music Group (Angus & Julia Stone, St. South, Mallrat, James Vincent McMorrow, The Paper Kites)
- 1x Arturia Keylab Essential 49 mk3 Universal MIDI Controller
- A 1-on-1 Production Session with an Ableton Certified Trainer
- 1x St. South Jersey
Runner Up:
- St. South merch bundle
ABOUT ST. SOUTH
St. South is the moniker of Olivia Gavranich, an independent singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Fremantle, Australia. Known for her nuanced, soulful electronic production and fiercely independent approach to music-making, she has established herself as a multifaceted artist who writes, performs, and produces all of her own material.
She self-released her debut EP Nervous Energy in 2016, garnering millions of streams and landing placements in The Vampire Diaries and The Fosters. She followed it up with 2017’s Inure, 2020’s full-length debut Get Well Soon, and her 2024 EP BIG SADS – a tender, cathartic project written during a period of personal upheaval. Most recently, she released its companion remix collection SMILE NOW CRY LATER (2025), featuring reimaginings of BIG SADS tracks by SOAK, BROODS, Willo, IMAGIRO, and Yumi Zouma, alongside a stripped-back live demo version by St. South herself.
An accomplished remixer in her own right, her remix of Thelma Plum’s “Clumsy Love” has surpassed 900,000 streams, with her take on HANDSOME’s “Blame” reaching over half a million. She’s also reworked tracks by Miki Ratsula and T. Thomason, and collaborated with artists around the globe including Yellow Straps, SOAK, Odesza, flowerkid, BROODS, N.Y.C.K, Yumi Zouma, IMAGIRO, Willo, DOUBLECAMP, Slumberville, and Mt. Wolf.
