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Credit: Mikayla Kitsanpolis

Have you ever hit the gym hard enough to get that intoxicating rush of endorphins? Some describe it as pure ecstasy, others as the moment they feel most alive. The runner's high is the purest natural state of euphoria, so it's no wonder that it inspired Maude Latour to compose an incredibly transcendent piece of music. The burgeoning 19-year-old songstress has an uncanny talent for capturing the intangible in the palm of her hands and turning it into a sonic delicacy. Latour's new single is no exception. The track starts out with moody yet articulate lyricism, as the siren croons, "My mind’s on fire so I ride my bike / I’m riding harder than a hurricane.“ The moment Latour's chorus hits, listeners are catapulted into that blissful runner's high right alongside her.  

The accompanying visual delights fans with an enchanting aesthetic, featuring Latour riding her bike in front of a technicolor green screen. Shimmering rainbows and heavenly animations flash behind her, as a high powered fan blows wind wildly through her blond hair. Latour's verses are laden with vocoded harmonies, and her choruses hit the ground running with an irresistibly danceable house beat. The song itself is a euphoric experience, but listen to it on the home stretch of your bike ride and you might just enter a powerfully addictive state of cosmic exhilaration.  

Latour reveals the key to hitting her runner's high:

"When I bike, I feel truly alive. Spinning up and down the hills of Central Park and weaving down the avenues through Manhattan (which is dangerous! I don’t condone - please wear a helmet!) are the moments that bring me sanity. This song captures the sacredness of the freedom that comes from hitting a runner’s high. Please remember to go outside and break a sweat– it’ll remind you that you are so incredibly alive and breathing."

In celebration of the new release, Ones To Watch sat down with Maude Latour to chat about her bike ride route, her international upbringing, and the time her parents called the cops on her.  

OTW: How did you discover your passion for singing/songwriting?

Maude Latour: I guess songwriting happened after my first heartbreak. It was the way to sum it up in three minutes, to cope with it and find closure with it. It was also a way for me to create stories and make them into finished products. So that's when songwriting got more serious.

OTW: Since your debut project High School High (2018), how has your musical trajectory changed?

ML: It's changed so much. I feel like I've learned so much more about production and my genre, and lack thereof. I think I've gotten so much more lyrical and I've started thinking about so many new topics. I think now I know a lot more about what I want from music and writing. And a lot more about what I want my ideal song to be.

OTW: What initially inspired "Ride My Bike"?

ML: I had this feeling in my head, I knew exactly what the song was going to be about, I knew exactly what it was going to sound like. Riding my bike has always been the only physical way that I've ever been able to feel free and feel runner's high the way that people describe.  I've always I've had a Citi Bike membership and I bike all around New York in the summers. It's my freest state, always. It was initially based on this one day that I was so lost, and fuming. I just ran away from home and got on this bike, biked all the way across Manhattan, and got so much of my energy out. And my parents freaked out. I didn't bring my phone, and when I got back they had called the police, and the police were like, "She's been gone for two hours, chill." So it's about that freedom. I love riding my bike, even these past few weeks when I've had so much drama in my life. I had a bike while I was on vacation and it was such an amazing way to feel free.

OTW: Take us on your typical bike ride route.

ML: Oh my god! That's the best question. Ok, so we're starting at my house, we go down 82nd street, then we hit Central Park, and we enter the 72nd street entrance. And then there are these amazing hills through the whole thing. We get out at 59th street, and then we ride up the west side, all the way north, back up the Hudson River. Woah, that's a great question, that's awesome.

OTW: Beautiful. I love it. And then you go back home?

ML: Um, I guess so, or we continue into infinity.

OTW: How has growing up in two metropolitan cities on opposite sides of the world, New York and Hong Kong, influenced your music?

ML: I think it has helped me to view my life in stories and chapters, and things worthy of capturing. I have very clear arrows in my head, and grades and interactions and dramas. I think its because I've left places quite a few times, that I saw how a storybook could close and I saw how there could be an ending to a story. That's something that I would sing about, stories that were succinct. A lot of people don't realize that they've been through stuff. And when I would leave places, I saw those chapters close.

Credit: Mikayla Kitsanpolis

OTW: If you had to describe the main message you want to send with your music, in a few sentences or less, what would it be?

ML: This song is definitely about when you're in that low spot, take charge of it. Go on a bike ride. Do it. Force yourself. You have the power to do that. But then I think the song gets into the broader message of the music. It's tapping into this shared human experience, of the fact that we are all so afraid of death and we go through these romances and heartbreaks, and much worse things for some people. And this human human-ness that comes out if it is tragic and beautiful and it's something that's strong enough to bring us together. It's bigger than you, and we're all part of this shared universal experience. And no matter what you're going through, you can get through it. I hope so. No, I believe it.

OTW: Who do you look up to most in the music industry?

ML: At this moment, Lana Del Rey. She just put out a song and video, "Looking for America," and I think it so eloquently addresses the shootings that have been happening in our country. She pays homage to what music truly is supposed to be for, of getting us through these times. Right now she is just making what she wants to make after building these crazy worlds for so long. She is such a true writer and artist, and citizen.

OTW: Who is your dream collaborator?

ML: Of course I'd love to work with Lana or Lorde, but I would love to see the song that I would make with The Strokes. I want to see the music that comes out of that.

OTW: Can we look forward to a new EP or project any time soon?

ML: Oh my god, I cannot predict the future. I have no idea. I don't know, it depends on what the people want.

OTW: What about what you want?

ML: When the story book is ready to close it will close. When the chapter starts to end. Could be in two months, could be in six months, who knows?

OTW: Any last words about the new song and video?

ML: I hope people freaking exercise to this song. Just be outside, use it to get you out of bed in the morning. Scream it the heck out. We're all in pain! At least we can sing about it.

OTW: And finally, who are your Ones To Watch?

ML: Samia. She's so great, I'm her biggest fan. I come to every single one of her shows. You should listen to her. I'll support her forever. Chloe Lilac, always. She's another NYC chick. She's so awesome and I'm so proud of her.

Want more Maude Latour? Check out her last single here.