For his first release of 2025, Stevie Bankster channels the feeling of pain and heartbreak into the energetic and upbeat track, Taker. Raw and emotional, Taker is a cathartic and liberating anthem exploring Bankster’s own experiences with lost love.
A breakup anthem through and through, Taker was written and recorded entirely in-studio in a single session. “I had so many emotions and feelings that day,” Bankster tells Not Safe For Queers. “And so I went into the studio and told my producer, ‘I think it’s gonna be a ballad.’”
“So for the first few seconds in the song there’s, like, that piano riff and it’s very much giving ballad. And from there, I think we just started to build and create this very energetic powerhouse of a song that turned the heartbreak into empowerment. It was very organic.”
As Taker picks up, it’s clear that Bankster has injected his own blend of pop and R&B into the track to emulate the transformation that heartbreak often leads to. “It goes from, like, heartbroken to cutthroat. The first verse is the hurt verse, and the second verse is a little less apologetic,” he explains. “For me, it really shows the evolution of a breakup.”
And it’s not just through lyrics and melodies that Bankster is expressing himself and his emotions. It’s visually, too, with the track’s music video.
“I’m a very symbolic person,” Bankster begins. “I love encapsulating a symbol or a feeling or an emotion—whether it’s through camera angles or colour tones or the actual act of what’s going on screen.”
“So, for me, music videos are a way not only to create a world for the song to exist in, but they’re heavily symbolic and pretty looking. So, at the very least, they’re a visual feast. But when you really break it down, there’s a lot more emotion expressed in them, too.”
Prior to the release of Taker (and 2024’s Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing), Bankster had taken a seven year break from the limelight, a move which allowed the artist the time to better understand his identity.
“It wasn’t an intentional decision not to release music. It was just a product of circumstance,” Bankster reveals. “I was writing and singing the entire time, but releasing music just didn’t feel right.”
“But a lot of self-discovery and growth happened in that time. Self-acceptance and self-love was a really big focus of mine—especially with my sexuality. And now, I feel like I’m the most myself that I’ve ever been.”
Moving forward, and once the intense hype around Taker has died down a little, Bankster is excited to dive deeper into his experiences and share them with the world.
“I have a couple of tracks planned to release which really showcase a plethora of emotions. So while my recent releases have talked about self love, and embracing my sensitivity, and heartbreak, this has all just been an introduction to the new Stevie Bankster,” he explains
“So next I have a song called The One coming out. And that explores the idea of being the one that got away in the relationship. It basically says, like, you’ll realise that I’m the one that got away. It’s a bit savage, but it’s probably one of my favourites. Plus, the visuals for it are looking really, really, really amazing.”
“And then after that, I’m stripping it back with a song called Stay Alive. It’s quite a dark song, to be honest, and it’s quite deeply personal to me.”
Stevie Bankster’s new single, Taker, is out now.