14-YEAR-OLD SINGER-SONGWRITER IRIS COPPERMAN’S NEW EP MIDDLE SCHOOL DROPOUT IS OUT TODAY
LISTEN HERE
03 APRIL 2026 (TORONTO, ON) — Today, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Iris Copperman released her new EP Middle School Dropout via Interscope Records. Over the course of six unfiltered songs, the Nashville-based artist documents a turbulent chapter in her coming-of-age journey. While she’s only 14, Copperman has been writing songs since she was five. Rooted in her lived-in storytelling and gorgeously crafted sound, Middle School Dropout affirms she is a captivating new voice in the world of introspective pop. Listen HERE.
“When I was in middle school, kids weren’t very kind to me—I remember coming home crying every day and telling my mom I didn’t want to go back,” says Iris Copperman, who eventually transitioned to homeschooling. “The whole experience taught me so much about myself, and it also made me want to understand what would lead people to act that way.” Even with the hurt of those experiences still close to the surface, Copperman shares her story with unguarded empathy and open-hearted curiosity — an approach closely aligned with her mission of inspiring kindness and awakening a deeper sense of compassion in her listeners.
On the cathartic “Roses,” she confesses, “You had to go and twist the knife / Stepping on my peace of mind / I almost didn’t make it out alive,” but envisions the tears turning into a garden. Listen to “Roses,” which she wrote with Ross Copperman, the EP’s executive producer, and Annie Schindel (Chappell Roan, Gracie Abrams), HERE.
From the self-aware humor of “Awkward” to “Kinder,” a radiant combination of clear-eyed reflection and compassion, to the epic title track, Middle School Dropout spotlights Copperman’s exquisite gift for transforming pain into beauty. On EP opener/lead single “Struggle Bus,” she experiences a whirlwind of conflicting emotions and lands in a place of radical self-acceptance.
“I feel like I found my voice through ‘Struggle Bus,’ and from that point on everything’s felt authentic to me in a much deeper way,” she notes.
Follow-up single “Bully”—co-written with 4x GRAMMY® winner Shane McAnally (Kacey Musgraves, Kelly Clarkson) and Ross Copperman—opens with a cascade of urgent piano melodies and gives way to explosive gang vocals and cinematic strings as she reflects on cycles of harm.
Copperman also played a hands-on role in the writing and making of the official videos that accompany the two singles, which were directed by Jason Lester (Hozier, Ashe). As she travels on the bus to middle school, we’re introduced to the many sides of Iris in the video for “Struggle Bus.” View HERE. The visual for “Bully” picks up on campus, where someone has scrawled “LOSER” on her locker. Things go downhill from there, but she channels the hurt in her notebook and ultimately finds strength. View “Bully” HERE.
Copperman says, “With these new songs, I hope that people feel inspired to be kinder, to give themselves some grace and give grace to others, too. Above anything else, kindness is the message I want to keep driving forward.”
Track Listing – Middle School Dropout
1. Struggle Bus
2. Bully
3. Awkward
4. Middle School Dropout
5. Roses
6. Kinder
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