Today, Mal Not Bad –– the Los Angeles-based artist, producer, and Hayley Williams, Mk.gee, Jay Som, and NoSo collaborator –– shares a new single and video for “DHF” starring longtime friend and collaborator Jon Gries (Uncle Rico Dynamite), ahead of their forthcoming record SOPHOMORE due early next year. Listen to/watch “DHF” here, and presave SOPHOMORE here.

“DHF” feels like a digested cumulation of influences: Fleabag, Sex and the City, and “By Your Side” by Sade. On this track and the music Mal’s making, the hindsight of growing up and finding one’s self has been obtained; the comfort in the conformity of a Catholic school uniform rubs up against the elation in the freedom of dressing in a way that feels true to you, and taking that body dancing in a room of similarly-differently-minded people. “DHF” boasts Mal’s signature spacey, intricate guitar tones and often stacatto, staggered melodic phrases.

Of the “DHF” single and video, Mal says, “This video points to Fleabag, with some personal Catholic references spilling in. It also points to SATC through showing the shorts from my clothing line ‘Ode to Catholic School’ that I am dropping at the album release. I wanted the video to balance play with meaning, much like Fleabag’s ability to pull you in with humor and then hit you in the gut with something deep and heavily relatable– leaving the interpretation up to the viewer without explanation, a reaction shaped by their own experiences and relation.

“Most excitingly, the video features a close friend and collaborator, Jon Gries, whose music I’ve been lucky to work on over the past few years along with other talented friends Jill Rezen (writer, actor), Wallice (musician, ceramicist), Cal Kevany (Wallice, Rooney), and Maia Nelson (Blondshell, Miya Folick).”

Watch “DHF” Starring Jon Gries here

Previous singles off of SOPHOMORE include “WIDC,” which sounds as if a MUNA (s/t-era) track were run through an elaborate pedal setup, spliced with the impressionistic nature of Westerman’s alternative electronica. “Amorph(e)ous” conveys the tense vulnerability of opening up and the euphoric relief of community through musical gesture: skittering hi-hats and a techno pulse heightening the anticipatory cortisol spike, warm synthesizer swells and smears of guitar punctuating the rush of assurance and pursuant abandon; an exquisite track that pays homage to the open-armed acceptance of rave culture.

Mal Hauser is a Los Angeles–based artist who released their acclaimed debut album This Is Your New Life as Mal Not Bad in 2024. The record earned support from KCRW, BBC Radio 6, NPR, and major streaming playlists, with praise from The Guardian, SPIN, and NME. A self-producing multi-instrumentalist, Mal has toured internationally, recently co-wrote and co produced Jay Som’s album Belong, and opened the Your Smith Fall 2025 tour.

Mal Not Bad’s solo project combines music, visual, and fashion elements to create a fully realized universe in which the listener and viewer can become immersed. Each release operates as a chapter within an evolving world, where sound, imagery, and texture are intentionally intertwined. The upcoming music emphasizes emotional resonance and world-building over linear narrative, inviting audiences to engage intuitively rather than passively.

The lush soundscapes and expressionistic lyricism of Mal’s songs align to bring the listener into a poetic and playful rumination on safety, control, and identity that is at once bittersweet and buoyant.