“One Last Time” was among the earliest songs Kayla Janowitz ever wrote. Even then, it stood out.
“It’s the first thing I felt stoked about—I’ll never forget that feeling,” says Janowitz, better known artistically as After Ours. “I recorded a voice memo and threw it on GarageBand. The demo sat on my computer for a while.”
That first batch of music is near and dear to Janowitz, who was battling undisclosed health issues at the time. The daughter of a classically trained opera singer, the Bergen County, N.J., native is a self-taught phenomenon who got her start in Los Angeles, where she collaborated with indie-pop auteur Hether for her 2023 debut. Available June 6, Imaginary Friend (Acrophase/Secretly Canadian) is its bicoastal follow-up. Half of it was written in L.A., the rest upon her return to the East Coast. More than three years old, “One More Time” (an irresistible pop-punk spin on the classic murder ballad) was resurrected by Imaginary Friend producer Josef Kuhn at his Nashville studio.
“I rerecorded it with Josef, and we gave it the zhuzh it deserved,” Janowitz says. “It’s one of the first songs that really felt like After Ours.”
We’re proud to premiere After Ours’ playfully macabre video for “One More Time.”
—Hobart Rowland
