Musician Viola Odette Harlow—formerly Glüme—is back, and she’s not playing coy. The electro-pop provocateur has announced her new album, Porn Star, slated for release on March 14 via her own label, Play Girl Records. The lead single, Perfectly Ordinary, is out now, accompanied by a video drenched in dreamlike melancholy and the sting of reality.
Harlow, who has battled chronic illness for years, describes the track as a reflection on isolation and resilience: “I wrote this feeling the loneliness of being sick, and now I’m terrified of being sick in America. It’s about finding hope in a hopeless situation. It’s perfectly ordinary to feel different.” A fever dream in the ICU became her creative genesis, a surreal party where everyone she knew had vanished by the time she woke up. The party’s over—now she’s rewriting the rules.
A Fairy Tale, A Tragedy, A Love Story
Harlow calls Porn Star “a modern Cinderella story caught in an old-school witch hunt.” The album wrestles with themes of misunderstanding, morality, and self-liberation. “Rome can fall in a day, and you can set yourself free in an instant. You can be stronger than an empire and softer than a whisper that’s louder than a scream,” she muses. The 16-track record, laced with collaborations from Chloe Cherry and Peter Dallas, is a manifesto of self-worth and transformation.
More Than Music: A Book That Cuts Deep
Adding to her empire, Harlow is set to drop her debut book, No One Famous Has It Yet, on March 31. Tackling illness, poverty, and sexuality, she describes it as “a book about celebrating your sexuality when you’re sick—because sickness doesn’t erase desire. It’s about turning a jail cell of dreams into freedom.” With unfiltered honesty, she lays bare the brutal realities of surviving as a disabled artist in America.
The Evolution of Viola Odette Harlow
Born in L.A. in 1988, Harlow started as a child actress under the names Molly Keck and Molly Marlette, with roles in The Kid, Queen of LA, and The Blue Rose. But her real metamorphosis began in music. As Glüme, she dropped her debut album, The Internet, in 2021 under Italians Do It Better. 2023’s Main Character saw her diving deeper into personal territory, collaborating with Sean Ono Lennon and Rufus Wainwright.
A fierce disability advocate, Harlow has turned her pain into power, using her platform to highlight the struggles of those living with chronic illness. Now, with Porn Star, she’s offering something raw, rebellious, and impossible to ignore.
The message? Own your story—because no one else will tell it for you.
Last modified: February 4, 2025
