Ruston Kelly has released the latest single off his upcoming album, Dying Star. Reader can press play above to watch the video for "Mockingbird." The gritty, dated video gives a glimpse of a darker coming-of-age story as a a prom queen grows up to carve her survival out of the harsh nightlife.

"Pretty wings you're the prettiest thing / You're like Parker Posey in a magazine / With faded jeans and a crop top back in '93 / I wanna be your dressed in black / Your dark star with the backwards hat / I'm gonna write a book and put your name on every page ..." the lyrics start out with a hopeful strain, before the chorus sings a more somber tune. "Hey pretty little Mockingbird / Keep singing them sad, sad songs ..."

The artist says that directors Stephen Kinigopoulos and Alexa King pitched him a story for his song that played on the commonality we all share in the human struggle.

“I wrote "Mockingbird" in a Dominican hotel, on the edge of a bed, at like six in the morning." Kelly shares in a press release about the song. "I needed a release from a cyclical pattern of a doomed relationship. The kind that leaves you with less than what you went in with ... even though I write about my own personal situations, it’s also everyone’s story: the human condition, our connected plight in a mad world. Regardless of how it’s expressed, we all struggle through something with hope on the other side.”

"Mockingbird" follows the release of Kelly's first single off Dying Star, "Jericho," and like every track on the upcoming album, was written or co-written by the artist. Dying Star is due out on Sept. 7 but is available for pre-order now. Kelly will be launching a headlining tour later this fall. For a complete tour schedule, check out his website.

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