Welcome to the wonderful world of Gregory after dark. On his latest single, Vacuum, the singer- who might not be on your radar but absolutely needs to be – takes his listeners deep into the void of his post-breakup spiral. On the track, which was produced by Swedish pop-producer Joakim Budee, Dillon explores sex as a coping mechanism as he reels from the fallout from a toxic relationship, which I’m sure all of you know absolutely nothing about. Vacuum is Dillon’s darkest track to date, with a heavy synth beat that pairs perfectly with his buttery yet full-figured voice. What we’re left with is Depeche Mode meets Robyn meets my dream journal in this dark pop bop.

Dillon drew inspiration for this darker chapter from a relationship gone wrong. Trapped in a situation from which he wanted to escape but felt like he couldn’t, Dillon says he pulled away from everyone in his life. “It led me to spiral pretty quickly,” he said.  “It was in those months I secretly started turning to sex with strangers as a way to fill the void.  In the vacuum of space, my shame was a catalyst and the more I pursued this fix the more I grew dependent on it. It wasn’t really a problem until I noticed it was a problem. That’s when it sank in that I was more lost than I thought.”

Dillon, who has assigned a color to each of his previous singles, chose black for Vacuum. That doesn’t mean the whole experience was bad, though. “As I was writing this track, as much as I was ashamed of the period of time, I also had come through it on a new side,” said Dillon. “I didn’t experience this just for shame. My earlier songs are much more pure and sensitive, but in Vacuum I kind of reexamine it all. Like, it’s ok to go through this dark moment. It’s not something I only want to feel bad about. It was also a place of liberation. I found confidence. It felt really good. It’s a weird duality I’m experiencing in this song.”

Vacuum, which is premiering exclusively V, will be part of Dillon’s forthcoming EP Send Me Letters, due out later this year, which will explore the colors of what Dillon calls his “shadow self”: black (representing sex and shame), red (representing curiosity), and purple (representing reflection). Accompanying the EP will be a three-part music video pop opera, each from a different director. “The three-part music video is going to explore the deeper shades to this story,” said Dillon. “I’m excited to be working with three different directors who each want to take on one song which will follow one linear journey to the conclusion of the album. It will kind of be like if the Phantom of the Opera took the blue pill in The Matrix.” Color us intrigued.

V has an exclusive visualizer to accompany today’s release which you can watch below. In the video, we see director Camelia Azar’s take on a dystopian pop future with a slight nod towards 1960s housewives.

Stream Vacuum and all of Dillon’s other songs on your streaming platform of choice.