"Stranger Love" is a song by Australian electronic trio

Pnau Pnau ( ) is an Australian dance music trio originating from Sydney. The trio, a duo before 2016, consists of the musicians Nick Littlemore (vocals, production), Peter Mayes (guitar, production) and Sam Littlemore (production), with the latter jo ...

and Australian singer

Budjerah Budjerah Slabb, known mononymously as Budjerah, is an Aboriginal Australian singer-songwriter from Fingal Head, New South Wales. He is a Coodjinburra man from the Bundjalung nation. His debut single "Missing You" was released in October 202 ...

, released through

Etcetc Etcetc Music is an independent record label based in Sydney, Australia. It is the label of alternative and electronic bands and artists Pnau, George Maple, Kilter, Paces, San Mei, Luke Million, CLYPSO, Luboku, and the Australian releases of Ja ...

on 28 May 2021. Both artists revealed the collaboration on their social media prior to its release. The song was released on 28 May 2021. Pnau's

Nick Littlemore Nicholas George Littlemore (born 6 May 1978) is an Australian musician, record producer, singer and songwriter. As a musician, he is the frontman of the electronic duo Pnau, an ex-member of the art-rock band Teenager (band), Teenager and one pa ...

described the song as "an interstellar banger to be enjoyed by the trippy dreamer in all of us." Remixes were released on 4 August 2021. At the

AIR Awards of 2022 The 2022 AIR Awards is the sixteenth annual Australian Independent Record Labels Association Music Awards ceremony (generally known as the AIR Awards). It took place on 4 August 2022 in Adelaide. The nominations were revealed on 18 May 2022 wi ...

, the song was nominated for Best Independent Dance, Electronica or Club Single.

Background and release

Speaking to

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

on 27 May 2021,

revealed that Budjerah had initially written the song as an acoustic ballad, with

Joel Quartermain Joel Quartermain (born 19 January 1977) is an Australian guitarist, back-up singer, recording drummer and pianist of the band Eskimo Joe. He spent a lot of his childhood focused on radio and tapes. In 1989, he moved to Perth, Western Australia, ...

. "I heard

is voice In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' i ...

on a very early demo and it knocked my socks off. We took Budjerah to the dance-floor for this one." Budjerah said "The song was written based on the book ''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...

'' by

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

and describes the relationship between the young boy (the little Prince) and a rose that lands on his home planet. The boy cares for her, he gives her his love and attention, but the rose doesn't really appreciate the boy, so he leaves the planet." Budjerah added "It was really fun to make the track with PNAU. I recorded the vocals with Nick Littlemore when we met in

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

in February of 2021. The performance element of a dance record is quite different to what I'm used to, but it was really fun. It sounds really great." In the week of the song's release, Pnau's social media posts read "Meeting a young, spirited artist like Budjerah is beautiful and challenging. To encounter someone so young who already has a great handle on creativity and kindness confronts ones own insecurities. He comes across as a natural, not something one sees a lot of in this business. Whilst we come from vastly different experiences, the supernatural power of music brought us together."

Critical reception

Laura English from ''

Music Feeds ''Music Feeds'' is a free bi-weekly digital music and lifestyle magazine (street press) established in 2008 and based in Sydney, Australia. It is distributed electronically every second Tuesday, with additional material posted on the website r ...

called the song "super impressive" and one "that sees them combine both their signature sounds so well." Ben Madden from ''Cool Accidents'' said "If you're looking for a song to soundtrack your weekend adventures, then look no further. 'Stranger Love' will get your body grooving and will leave your heart full of happiness. It's a great reminder of the power of music." Rob Mullineau from ''OZ EDM'' called the song "A powerful and uplifting house track". ''AAA Backstage'' called the song "top shelf" saying "'Stranger Love' is a powerful and mega uplifting track, it sees the classic style of production from PNAU injected with a fresh new marriage of harmony with the vocals of Budjerah."

Track listings

Digital download/streaming # "Stranger Love" – 3:20 Digital download/streaming (The Remixes) # "Stranger Love" ( Dave Winnel (producer) remix) – 3:14 # "Stranger Love" (

Taka Perry Taka Perry (born 18 October 1998) is an Australian-Japanese music producer, songwriter and artist from Canberra, Australia. His past collaborations include Ruel, Denzel Curry, GoldLink, SIRUP, Thomas Headon, and M-Phazes. Career Taka Perr ...

remix) – 4:25 # "Stranger Love" (Eddie remix) – 4:15 # "Stranger Love" (Stacie Fields remix) – 4:20

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Pnau songs Animated music videos Budjerah songs Songs written by Budjerah Songs written by Joel Quartermain Songs written by Nick Littlemore Songs written by Peter Mayes Songs written by Sam Littlemore