Pom Pom Squad, the one-woman alt-rock project from New York’s Mia Berrin, made a lot of noise with their 2021 debut album Death Of A Cheerleader. They became a Stereogum Band To Watch, and my brain exploded a little bit when I learned that Berrin is MC Serch’s daughter. After the LP’s release, Pom Pom Squad remade Nada Surf’s “Popular — both song and video — and released the track “River” as part of the Song Confessional project. Still, it’s been three years since we got a proper Pom Pom Squad single. That changes today.

Pom Pom Squad just dropped “Downhill,” a sleek and catchy song about uncertainty and panic. Mia Berrin co-wrote the song with film composer Cody Fitzgerald and singer-songwriter Sabrina Song, and she co-produced it with Fitzgerald. The song sounds crystalline, and its programmed dance beat first Berrin’s voice nicely. Here’s what Berrin says about it:

In my everyday life, I’m pretty reserved and shy, so it’s odd, even to me, that I feel this pull to be onstage — to put my music out and open myself up to everything that comes with that. When I was writing “Downhill,” I was thinking a lot about the push-pull between those opposing sides of my personality. Sometimes, being ambitious feels like being self-destructive, and I wanted to explore the line between the two. Also, it’s been nearly three years since I’ve released anything new, so this song feels like my reintroduction to the world. Pom Pom Squad is soooo back, baby!

Listen to “Downhill” below.

“Downhill” is out now on City Slang.