Pop music is like a universal language -- its infectious sounds can cross seas and its relatable messages can defy borders.

On the latest single from Lisbon-based electro duo Violent Shakes, the group effortlessly fuses a variety of worldly sounds to create an elaborate melting pot of instrumentation. Their flavorful new song “Take Me Like a Drug” features rising singer/songwriter Mickey Shiloh and draws inspiration from sounds across the globe in its production using Spanish castanets, Arabic strings and more, amalgamating into a vibrant dance track. 

Just as “Take Me Like a Drug” -- premiering below --  emanates the heat of a fiery pop track, the song explores the universal experience of enduring loneliness and finding self-empowerment within it. 

“We wanted to explore the subject of loneliness and how people can spend whole lifetimes avoiding facing it and learning from it and most times taking shelter and searching for fulfillment in people that just aren't meant for them,” Violent Shakes says of the song. “So, it’s all about mastering our own love and to not be afraid to show it.

“['Take Me Like a Drug'] is basically just a trans-cultural production approach to trans-cultural subject --  embracing solitude as a way to become better lovers and better human beings.”