Naarm/Melbourne pop provocateur Robert Baxter today shares their new EP PARTYANIMAL, amidst their tour support for Ashnikko happening across AU/NZ this month. LISTEN HERE.

Audacious, uncompromising and steadfast in their creative instincts, it’s impossible to put Robert Baxterin a box, and that’s what they find the most liberating. No matter how anyone tries to categorise their art, Robert has never felt more secure in their popstar persona, their creative community, the music they’re making, and PARTYANIMAL is proof. Making their most club-forward music yet, PARTYANIMAL bridges the “unapologetic gay, sexy, sweaty” energy of a night out and the vulnerabilities that linger on the comedown. “It’s the animalistic play between needs and desires — the production is all ferocious and headbanging, but the lyrics contain another side to the animal if you listen,” they reveal.

Robert treats vulnerability, desire, and humour as the same material, worked and reworked until the line between sincerity and irony disappears, as a way to process the ups and downs of young adult life. Raised on Yorta Yorta Country before relocating to a city where they now sell out their own headline shows, the now far-reaching support system they’ve built inspired ‘SKY CITY’, whereas ‘NAMELESS’ relishes in the anonymity of nightlife on the other side of the world. More personally, ‘I <3 GIRLS’ came from an experience of being told “you’re so beautiful, but I don’t like girls”, transformed into a love-letter to all the girls in their life. “Everything I do is for the girls; we would have no culture without the Trans girls, no pride without the queer girls, no life without the mothers,” Robert shares.

WATCH: BRB (Official Video)

Today’s focus track ‘BRB’ – the hard-hitting opener to PARTYANIMAL – is a clap-back to people who try to undermine your success. “There was this person in the music industry being kind of rude to me, and I was like, whatever, it’s okay; not everyone has to like me,” Robert explains. “But then I hear they’ve been hitting up the producers I work with, photographers, like, I’m on the moodboard. Maybe they were trying to play it cool, and that’s why they were being rude, but either way, good luck trying to be me.” Balancing that same duality between playfulness and vulnerability in the lyrics, ‘BRB’ is a reminder to know your worth and back yourself, but also, sometimes it’s not that serious (“No Kim, I’m the one they’re keeping up with!”).

With their diverse catalogue including EPs you wouldn’t expect cupid to cry (2024) and STARGIRL(2025), striking visuals, and multidisciplinary practice, Robert is carving out their own lane in Australian pop, while proudly building spaces for community. They’ve been championed by global tastemakers including triple j and Unearthed, 10 Magazine, to Be Magazine, F Word Magazine, Kaltblut Magazine, and recently nominated for Best Independent Electronic single at this year’s AIR Awards for ‘ICY (TAKE IT OFF)’ (with Sweatbaby).

The release of PARTYANIMAL coincides with Robert’s national tour dates supporting Ashnikko on her Smoochies tour across AU/NZ this month. Having played Auckland Town Hall this past Wednesday, Robert is taking on two sold-out nights at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre this weekend, with Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to follow. Robert will then be hosting EP launch parties in Melbourne and Brisbane this October, followed by festival performances at Heaps Gay, Beyond The Valley, and Wildlands to round off 2026.