The track was written “from the perspective of an emotionally sensitive guy who simultaneously craves love yet shies away from genuine intimacy”, Momoko told our sister site, scenestr, in the song's premiere.

Lyrically it's an examination of someone who is neck-deep in torment about the unrequited love he has for someone – until a real emotional connection comes his way. . . Which he ends up repelling – thus creating a vicious, self-inflicted cycle.

When it came to creating the lyric video for such a buoyant, glittering sound blended with tender lyrics, Momoko already had visions swimming around in her mind.

“I’d always had a vague idea of doing a lyric video since writing and recording ‘softboi’,” Momoko Rose says. “I already had an aesthetic in mind for the song, which had been executed in photoshoots with photographer Peter Foster, however this would translate differently in an animated lyric video.”

The phrase 'it's who you know' can be applied to a lot of things – the inception of the 'softboi' lyric video a stellar example. The animation in the clip is created by animator Melissa Bustamante Montoya (Meli), who just happens to be Momoko's housemate in Melbourne. Their collaboration was serendipitous.

“[Meli] and her partner had just graduated from an animation course and were looking to collaborate with people, so the timing lined up and felt right. Having someone who knew me well, with similar interests and who understood the vision of the song made it easy to trust the process,” Momoko says. “Watching the final result in Melissa and Max’s home office had me geeking out in disbelief, it really is so cool to see your idea come to life!”

The result is a video that plays with old-school aesthetics like a flip phone and 8-bit text, with vaporwave vibes and anime thrown in for good measure. FROOTY is amped to be premiering this lyric video today. Watch it below.

“I was really excited when Momo approached me to create the visuals for her lyric video, she said that my style would suit it perfectly,” Meli reveals. “We had a few conversations about the style of the video and the character and we found a lot of common ground in inspirations such as anime and cartoons, which we both love.”

“The part of the collab I wasn’t too sure about was the editing, which is not really my forte, but my partner Max really helped us in that department. It really was an awesome experience and Momo gave me lots of creative freedom, and I would love to keep projects like this going!”

Momoko had a little help from her mum to translate the lyrics to Japanese in the video too.

“It was an enjoyable experience getting my mum to help out with the Japanese translation for ‘softboi’ to add to the video. The meaning of the lyrics sparked some really funny conversations as the song really is a big joke and having the jokes translated to another language just adds layers to the humour.”

“Max and Melissa input all the lyrics in English and Japanese for me and my mum to look over afterwards. I'm sure it was difficult as they were going off instinct but it turned out really well in the end!”

'softboi' is out now. Momoko Rose is holding a single launch for the track at Mamma Chen's (Melbourne) on 24 November.