Premiere: Ariel shares quarantine-shot video for horny bop ‘Party Line (Dial In)’

Ariel makes party bangers with a dark and introspective twist. The Channel Islands singer and producer has previously come out with bubblegum bops like the ode to our throwaway, fast food culture on ‘In-N-Out‘ and hedonistic anthem ‘We Bring Our Friends’. With more than a hint of the pop sparkle of the likes of Charli XCX and LIZ, ‘Party Line (Dial In)’ was produced by Ariel and tackles lockdown isolation and quarantine horniness, inspired by a bout of 9am phone sex.

In accordance with that theme, she shot the video entirely in lockdown with the help of some remote pals. Read our interview with Ariel below, and watch the video exclusively – after its sneak preview on OnlyFans – above.

Summarise your lockdown experience for us. Has there been anything in particular helping you get through this time?

There’s a nihilism in the air and I’m kinda loving it. I like extremes and sort of thrive in them so to be honest I’ve really enjoyed aspects of lockdown. Beyond the obvious fact of a global pandemic being horrifying and feeling so grateful for people saving literal lives, I feel lucky in that what I like doing most in the world I can do for hours without needing to leaving the house. i.e. making pop music in bed. Lockdown has made everything very simple and clear. I’m producing everything alone out of necessity and I’ve never had more fun making music. There’s a sense the rules don’t apply and I’ve found that strangely helpful for my cautious/anxious side, like just put the damn music out, the world is imploding. All of humanity seems to be wanting to shake things up and I’m very fucking here for that.

Paprika crisps like you get in Spain and beer have got me through. I almost convinced myself I was on holiday in May when it was just wall to wall sunshine. And yawn but running has saved me. I was getting into it pretty seriously pre-lockdown but I’m now having a cringey full-blown love affair with it. *the internet* is also great isn’t it. In Feb my mum called me in a panic trying to get me to go to hers indefinitely bc a virus was coming to swallow the planet and I laughed her out the room. She wasn’t overreacting turns out. I live alone so it’s been an intense test in how much you can really stand your own company offline (a bit) but in the moments when I can’t I’ve been yammering with strangers on Instagram and OnlyFans every day and fucking loving it.

What do you miss most about the outside world?

Pub chat, hugs, orgasms induced by other people.

Talk us through the theme of ‘Party Line’…

Sounds like a terrible porn script but on the first Tuesday of lockdown at 9am I had unexpected phone sex with a guy I was chatting to online. I thought the whole thing was alright but it must have been pretty mediocre because he unfollowed me later that day. I can’t for the life of me remember his name. I made the song the next day in bed anyway. So yeah, it’s about being horny alone at home and making remote connections to get by. And off.

Explain how you managed to shoot an entire video in such crazy circumstances! How hard was that to do?

It was amazing and very naturally fell into place. I’d shot the artwork on Zoom already and the video idea was an extension of that basically. I just sort of recorded everything, diary of a goon stuck in the house for a week. Any excuse to have my own Madonna bath moment. It was co-directed with my good pal Marsden Murison, we’d been wanting to do something fun together for a while and I kinda knew he’d love the track. He was a dream, we had such a laugh, he put everything into making it happen. We met on Instagram as well, he started off as a *fan* or whatever, I hate that word, but we became good mates online which felt kinda poetic.

Who can we see at the end of the video?

A collection of lockdown angels. They’re all either mates or fans I chat to a lot online. People who’ve been a lifeline. They’re isolating everywhere from the US, Japan, Italy, France, South America, New Zealand. They totally make it 🎈📞