Miki Ratsula Announces New Album & Shares 'blue balloons'

Miki Ratsula – the acclaimed trans, nonbinary artist using their voice and platform to make music more inclusive – has announced their sophomore album, i’ll be fine if i want to, out October 6th via Nettwerk.

Throughout the album’s self-produced 13 tracks, the artist transcends the singer-songwriter genre and effortlessly blends indie rock and bedroom pop with an electro undercurrent for a bigger, more evolved sound.

They paint a gorgeous gradient that touches on everything from love and sorrow to envy and apathy, and all the way to outright anger with the unifying message being one of self-agency. Along with the album announcement, they have announced performances at Los Angeles Pride (Friday, June 9th) and Nashville Pride (Saturday, June 24th), and shared their latest single, “blue balloons (ft Semler),” along with the video directed by fellow musician Jax Anderson.

“blue balloons” is about being unapologetically queer and emotionally unwavering and features fellow queer artist Semler. The song captures the unnamable feeling Miki felt after being misgendered at their birthday party – not quite angry but somewhere closer to disappointment and definitely annoyed.

The chorus features a melancholic take on the 1963 hit “It’s My Party” by queer icon Lesley Gore, with Miki’s new take on the chorus lending to the album’s title (“it’s my party, I’ll be fine if I want to”). “‘blue balloons’ has a creeping feeling to it and is a bit weird but also feels exactly like the type of song Semler and I are supposed to make together!” notes Miki.  

The new single follows “jealous of my brother” which explores gender envy towards their cisgender brother but, peeling back the layers, reveals deeper pain and truths and even love and gratitude. Billboard Pride called it “instantly relatable, universally catchy and another important piece of representation for a community that often doesn’t get such thoughtfully-written art about them.” They also released the single “what would the neighbors think?” this spring, a song that continues with the theme of family and pain. 

Based in Southern California, Miki Ratsula has been releasing music independently since they were 16, having racked up over 50 million streams in the process. Even before the release of their first 2022 full-length debut album i owe it to myself, the Finnish-American artist built a sizable audience by openly and honestly welcoming people into their world, from coming out to getting top surgery to struggles with mental health.

Miki went on the road, completing their first national tour supporting Lauren Sanderson and Jordy, followed by dates with Ambar Lucid & Sammy Rae & The Friends. Not only has Miki connected more deeply with their audience over the past year, but they’ve also received praise and playlisting by the likes of Billboard Pride, them., Under the Radar, PopMatters, The Advocate, and more.

They followed the album with their made for them EP, featuring gender-neutral covers of songs originally sung by Phoebe Bridgers, Harry Styles, and more. 

With i’ll be fine if i want to, Miki Ratsula has not only grown as a producer, musician and songwriter, but also as a person. Miki doesn’t ask but demands that the world take them as they are, whether they’re expressing joy, pain, or something in between. Vulnerable both in the lows and the highs, ultimately Miki’s impressive second album is about taking back a sense of self-worth, whatever that may look like day to day.

“Queer people deserve love, queer people can be loved,” they add. “I’m about to get married, and I have unconditional love in my life – I don’t want people to forget about that, I don’t want her to forget about that, and I don’t want to forget about that myself.” Miki says “I have the power to feel what I want to feel,” and they’ve most definitely shown their power on i’ll be fine if i want to.