Photo: Pete Edlin
Riding the momentum of their breakthrough year, South Arcade have returned with their infectiously catchy new single, 'SplitScreen', which is out now via BKM Artists in partnership with Atlantic US. The release arrives just ahead of their massive UK and European tour next year, for which the final remaining tickets can be secured here.
Discussing the inspiration behind the track, South Arcade shared, “SplitScreen is about that one person you know you shouldn’t be entertaining, but somehow you’re still waiting for their name to light up your phone at 2am. We liked the parallel between staying up all night gaming with someone and staying up all night talking to someone you probably shouldn’t be talking to. It’s that feeling of knowing you should log off, but you keep hitting ‘play again’ anyway. You’re chasing the high of it, even when you know how it ends. But the risk is what makes it exciting.” They added, “We’re all big gamers in the band, and we love that translucent, coloured tech look from the 2000s. We wanted to capture the feeling of those icy, futuristic plastics and bring that same nostalgia into the sound of South Arcade. With SplitScreen, we’ve taken the sound in a more digital direction, but kept it tangible and human.”
'SplitScreen' follows on the heels of their previous release, 'F.A.M.O.U.S', which quickly became the band’s fastest-streaming track by racking up over 1.3 million global streams in under a month. Helmed by director Dogbrain, the official music video for 'F.A.M.O.U.S' is available now and showcases the group performing against an animated backdrop of futuristic neon lights displaying the song's lyrics. Within less than a week, it became their fastest-viewed visual to date,surpassing 161,000 views on YouTube, and you can watch the official video for 'F.A.M.O.U.S' here.
Before they take the stage at Vans Warped Tour Orlando later this month, the band has been giving audiences sneak peeks of their newer material, having already brought 'F.A.M.O.U.S' to a string of festivals over the past several months. It caps off a whirlwind year of major live performances that included their debut Australian headline tour, an appearance at Japan's Summer Sonic, an arena support run with 5 Seconds Of Summer across the UK and EU, and summer festival appearances across Europe—highlighted by a main stage set at Download—alongside Warped Tour Long Beach and the US Summer School Tour. Looking ahead, the group will launch 2027 with a sold-out headline show at London's iconic O2 Academy Brixton on 25th February 2027, before traveling to 11 additional cities throughout the UK and Ireland. Full tour dates can be found below.
Through these milestones, South Arcade have firmly established 2026 as the year they became impossible to ignore,amassing over 230 million global streams, more than 305 million YouTube views, a combined social media following exceeding 1.8 million, and upwards of 1.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify. On the live and radio fronts, the band has moved over 40,000 tickets across the UK and EU while accumulating more than 10,000 radio plays and 130 million impacts throughout the region to date. At BBC Radio 1 alone, their achievements include over 460 plays, five playlist singles, a performance at the flagship Big Weekend event, slots on Radio 1 stages at various UK festivals, and three singles crowned as Radio 1’s ‘Hottest Record’.
Catch South Arcade live in 2027:
7th Feb - Limelight, Belfast, Northern Ireland
8th Feb - 3Olympia, Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
10th Feb - O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
12th Feb - Manchester Academy, Manchester, UK
13th Feb - NX Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
14th Feb - Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK
16th Feb - O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK
18th Feb - Rock City, Nottingham, UK
19th Feb - UEA, Norwich, UK
21st Feb - The Great Hall, Cardiff, UK
22nd Feb - O2 Academy, Bristol, UK
25th Feb - O2 Academy Brixton, London, UK
2nd March - Melkweg, Amsterdam, NL
5th March - Lido, Berlin, DE
7th March - Proxima, Warsaw, PL
9th March - Szene, Vienna, AUT
10th March - Fuchs2, Prague, CZ
11th March - Strom, Munich, DE
13th March - Circolo Magnolia, Milan, IT
14th March - Plaza, Zürich, CH
16th March - CBE, Cologne, DE
17th March - Botanique, Brussels, BG
18th March - Backstage By The Mill, Paris, FR
