There’s music videos and then there is The Pretty Reckless’ visuals for “When I Wake Up.” The group revealed the clip earlier this month, feature a POV romp through sex, drugs, cigarettes, more sex, drinking, photo booths, more cigarettes, and even more sex. Even in 2026, it left us saying, “is this allowed?”
LISTEN NOW: Audacy Check In with The Pretty Reckless
The Pretty Reckless singer Taylor Momsen recently joined us for an Audacy Check In to talk about the video, and the band’s upcoming album, Dear God, set to arrive everywhere on June 26.
“I think my first thought when we put it out was, really all I thought for the first day was, ‘at what point is this going to get taken down?’” Momsen tells Abe Kanan. “It was an undertaking on my part. We shot for two days, I'm directing it with Chris Acosta. I filmed most of it, like physically. It's the visual representation of, to me, what ‘When I Wake Up’ is about.”
WATCH THE VIDEO EXCLUSIVELY ON YOUTUBE
“It's like the song. It's a lot of fun to watch, but it takes a dark turn. It's what ‘When I Wake Up’ is saying. We all know the story, you know, we've all heard it before. Some of us have lived it. I'm one of those people. It's where you live a life of excess and debauchery and chasing things outside of yourself to escape your demons and whatever's tormenting you, and that only goes one way at the end of the day, that only goes down. So that's what the song is, and that's what I really wanted the video to feel like, to really take you on that journey with me of something that I lived and survived.”
The song is set to be a part of Dear God, due out everywhere on June 26. “It's very exciting to have new music out. It's even more exciting to have a release date for the full album. It's even more exciting to know there's a headline tour on the way because it cannot wait to be headlining again. It's been amazing. I feel like we're in a really good place and everything that's about to come is just incredibly exciting.”
To hear for the full conversation with Taylor Momsen, check out the Audacy Check In above.
The new album, ‘Dear God,’ is out everywhere on June 26
