Fast-rising Los Angeles duo Honey Revenge release their sophomore album, Loving And Losing, today via Thriller Records. Vocalist Devin Papadol and guitarist Donny Lloyd turn the messy realities of growing up, falling in love, losing people and learning to trust yourself into technicolour pop-rock, pairing big emotions with even bigger hooks.
True to its title, Loving And Losing is rooted in the idea that love and loss are inseparable. The album moves between the rush of finding people who make life feel bigger and the grief of learning to live without them, while confronting toxic friendships, jealousy, self-sabotage, anxiety, creative insecurity and the uncomfortable process of relinquishing control. Honey Revenge allow those contradictions to exist side by side, wrapping some of their most vulnerable writing yet in glossy pop instincts, punchy guitars and choruses built to be screamed back in a packed room.
“I’ve had to take every loss as a lesson,” shares Papadol. “It’s this painful cycle – you love something, you cherish them, they become an integral part of you and then you lose them whether that’s to death or to life. You have to come to terms with the fact they taught me how to love a little bit, they taught me a lot by being in my life, and they’re going to teach me a lot by departing, whether that’s physically or metaphorically.”
That understanding became especially personal for Papadol following the loss of her father around the release of Honey Revenge’s 2023 debut, Retrovision. His passing changed the way she thought about grief, faith and what we carry forward. Loss is woven into the band’s story in other ways too, with Lloyd’s father passing before the pair met, ultimately setting in motion the events that led them both to Los Angeles and, eventually, to Honey Revenge itself. Loving And Losing became an exercise in trusting what can’t be known or controlled, recognising how even the most painful experiences can shape what comes next. Fittingly, the album closes with a voicemail from Papadol’s father.
That push and pull between light and dark has been present throughout the album’s rollout. ‘Run Your Mouth’ and ‘Hot Commodity’ are brash, playful exercises in taking your power back, while ‘Sunday Scaries’ disguises anxiety and self-sabotage beneath the sugar rush of a carefree night out. Most recently, ‘Trust Issues’ turned spiralling uncertainty into shimmering pop-rock catharsis. Together, the previously released singles showcase different sides of the Honey Revenge coin: sharp and vulnerable, sincere and sarcastic, capable of turning an existential crisis into something you want to dance to.
Arriving alongside the album is a new video for focus track ‘Sorry Much’, a sharp-tongued pop-rock kiss-off with an unmistakable ’80s sheen. Papadol’s powerhouse vocal and Lloyd’s infectious guitar riff build towards the instantly chantable, “Sorry, sorry but not that much / Sorry, sorry but I hate your guts,” turning setting boundaries into pure catharsis. The performance video continues the vivid purple visual world of the Loving And Losing era.
Arriving three years after Honey Revenge’s breakout debut Retrovision, which has surpassed 132 million streams worldwide, Loving And Losing captures a band whose world has grown considerably both on and off the stage. Years of touring have sharpened their musicianship and strengthened the chemistry between Papadol and Lloyd, resulting in a sophomore album that feels bigger, bolder and more self-assured without losing any of the personality that made Honey Revenge stand out in the first place.
