Dora Jar Returns With the Tauntingly Original “Puppet”
Photo: Erica Snyder
Dora Jar claws at and grasps with autonomy in the alt-pop eccentricity of her new single “Puppet.” Her first single since 2022, this song re-invites listeners into Jar’s whimsical musical world with an exciting new twist of distortion and off-center percussiveness.
“Puppet” opens with a playful scattering of keyboards chiming over a steadfast bass and drum pairing. There’s a heartbeat to the song, persisting in its rhythm-centric sound. Dora Jar’s vocals bounce across a half-sung, half-spoken melody. The playful taunt of the lines’ flow is intoxicating, full of spunk and slightly sultry intrigue. It pairs perfectly with the dancing synths and guitars, each of them adding to the building tension.
Soon, the chaos bubbles over, and Dora Jar hits the chorus with a wall of cathartic noise—fuzzed guitar riffs, wailing vocals, and even a scream in the distance. With “Puppet,” the artist intentionally plays with space, using cacophonous moments to juxtapose the restrained verses, with their twinkling keyboards and hex-like lyrics.
The space in the production also ties into the song’s meaning. “Puppet came together earlier this year while I was off social media, in a remote part of Alaska," shares Jar "Being off the internet my awareness shifted away from how I was perceived online to a strong feeling that everything around me was alive, and aware. The wood of the cabin walls was watching me as I stared at them in search of patterns, and the guitars we passed around seemed to tell their own stories.”
You can almost hear the way Jar felt watched and perceived in the dynamic shifting of the arrangement. The lyrics also express her distaste for this trapped feeling. “To those sorry souls who try to tie me up, I shake my head / All you puppets only hang on by a thread,” she sings.
Glittering with a gritty new edge and a daring lyrical tone, “Puppet” is an alluring return for the ever-original Dora Jar.
Watch the "Puppet" visualizer below:
