We're thrilled to announce that Charlotte Cornfield has signed to Merge Records! We're even more thrilled to announce that her Merge debut, Hurts Like Hell, will be released on March 27. The album's lead single and title track is out today — listen to it wherever you stream music, and join us in learning the choreography to its Scott Jacobson-directed music video below! Hurts Like Hell is available for pre-order on CD, LP, and limited lightning swirl Peak Vinyl from the Merge store in the US and UK. Canadian fans can order the album from our friends at Next Door Records!

Hurts Like Hell is Cornfield's sixth album and the first she’s recorded since the birth of her daughter in 2023, an inflection point for her as a person and an artist. The album’s recurrent themes of personal growth and renewal, of love’s perseverance through difficulty and shame and awkwardness, are rooted there. Hurts Like Hell is the most open-hearted, full-voiced album of her career and also the first articulation of her future, whatever uncertainty and love it may bring.

These themes are apparent on the lead single, “Hurts Like Hell.” Alongside Meek’s backing vocals, the band swells to embrace Cornfield’s idiosyncratic flow as if to cradle her protagonist’s heart from self-doubt and shyness. Cornfield excels in the telling of these stories, in her attention to character and detail—“Hurts Like Hell” is no exception, but it started as an experiment in writing from a character’s perspective and not her own. That the song is so vulnerable, so lived-in, is a matter of trust between Cornfield and her bandmates, in each other and of their gut. Their sound lands somewhere between Nashville Skyline and Harvest; a warm, richly-textured response to her bruised-but-seeking call.  

“This song is about someone getting over deep insecurities and inhibitions and putting themselves out there,” Cornfield explains. “These two characters in the song have clearly experienced a lot of pain and are pushing themselves to move past it and connect with one another. It’s a shy people love story. The pedal steel/full band/country-tinged approach felt fitting for this one, and Buck’s backing vocals really sent it.” 

The accompanying warm and irreverent video was written and directed by friend and fan Scott Jacobson (Bob’s Burgers, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and stars James Urbaniak (Henry Fool, American Splendour, The Venture Bros.) and Cornfield as sparring neighbors who resolve their differences through choreographed dance.  

This spring, Cornfield will embark on a short tour in celebration of the album's release. US dates will feature Hurts Like Hell collaborators Bridget Kearney (Lake Street Dive), El Kempner (Palehound), Evan Cartwright (Cola), and Nick Levine (Jodi, Great Grandpa). For more information, visit Charlotte's webpage or follow her on Instgagram.

Charlotte Cornfield on tour:
Jan 22 Fredericton, NB – Shivering Songs Music Festival
Feb 06 Drumheller, AB – Cold Bones Fest
Mar 31 Brooklyn, NY – Public Records
Apr 02 Chicago, IL – Schubas
Apr 04 Los Angeles, CA – Scribble
Apr 09 Toronto, ON – Lula Lounge