VÏKAE Releases ‘Stuck Inside’
What do you get when you cross a society glued to screens, politicians glued to their seats, and a synth line that slaps? You get Stuck Inside, the newest alt pop anthem from New Zealand’s genre bending provocateur VÏKAE, out now everywhere where music streams and reality distorts.
Written by VÏKAE (Veronika Bell), produced by Abigail Knudson and mastered by Rich Bryan, the track is equal parts hilarious, horrifying and hypnotic. It’s a dopamine dripping satire that sounds like it’s laughing with you until you realise it’s actually laughing at you.
Stuck Inside is NOT about lockdown. It’s about the unsettling feeling that maybe, just maybe, we never really left…? We’ve just swapped our masks for filters, our daily walks for doomscrolls and our walls for Wi-Fi. The world has reopened sure, but the trap has gone digital and we’re smiling through it.
“I wanted to write something silly, something almost vapid on the surface,” says VÏKAE. “Because that’s what the internet is – glitter that covers brain rot. We scroll, we laugh, we repost and we don’t realise we’re still locked down, just without the government memo this time.”
Lyrically Stuck Inside touches on everything from celebrity culture and political theatre to the absurd number of traffic cones now haunting New Zealand’s streets. The cones have become symbols of the illusion of safety, progress and control.
“The cones don’t protect us. They watch us. They’re like the eyes of the state – orange, plastic and permanently under construction.”
Tongue in cheek, yes. But behind the humour lies a deep unease. A sense that free speech, free thought and even free time are quietly eroding under constant surveillance and social pressure. It’s a pop song dressed as a meme. A truth bomb disguised as a bop.
Musically, Stuck Inside leans full tilt into alt pop absurdism – glossy synths, distorted vocals and manic energy balanced on the edge of self awareness. Imagine Charli XCX, Bo Burnham and Marina trapped in an algorithmic feedback loop, producing a dance track while the world implodes just offscreen.
The single continues the story arc of Doomsday Collective, VÏKAE’s cinematic anthology exploring modern collapse through pop maximalism and existential comedy. Following the venomous Flick A Switch and the chaotic romance of Swipe Right, Stuck Inside zooms out on the human condition itself – a screenshot of society mid spiral.
For the ones who refresh for meaning.
For the ones who laugh to cope.
For the ones who know the cones aren’t real but the surveillance is.
