Caroline Polachek created quite a stir with her 2019 solo album, Pang. The album features the scorching single "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings," which was later remixed by A.G. Cook for her Standing at the Gate: Remix Collection release. The song also got a wintry makeover as “So Cold You’re Hurting My Feelings.” Pitchfork recently named Polachek’s “Bunny Is A Rider” the best song of 2021.

Now Polachek, who first made a splash as the leader of Chairlift, is currently on the road on her Heart is Unbreaking tour. She stops at First Avenue on Tuesday, December 7. Here are highlights of her conversation with New Hot host David Safar.

DAVID SAFAR: Let's get started by talking about things we've done during the pandemic, and Caroline, something that you've done that caught my ear is this cover of the Corrs’ "Breathless." Can you tell us about what inspired you to put this one out?  

CAROLINE POLACHEK: "Breathless" has been a favorite song of mine since I was little. It came out in the late ‘90s and I remember being a kid in the back of my mom's car looking out the window and listening to these sisters singing. They were doing this really cool vocal flipping technique, which is so idiomatic to English and Scottish folk singing, and that kind of style ended up having a big influence on me later. That song is just so cleverly written because there's actually a sneaky change in each one of the choruses and verse transitions. It's just so well written that you can't even tell. And it just has this kind of windswept sweetness to it that I just love so much. 

I was playing with Charli XCX at her afterparty for her New York Pop 2 show, and Danny L Harle was DJing and I had this idea. [I asked], “Can you do a cover of ‘Breathless’ during your DJ set for Charli's afterparty?” So, we spent about two hours, I got the karaoke midi of "Breathless” online and we arranged out a super simple version in about two hours. I performed it at night, and people were absolutely mental. I was like, “This has to get added to the Pang live show.” We toured it a little bit, and then during the pandemic [...] it kind of was a reminder for me of being back on stage and being at parties. So we did it as a nostalgic act and it was really fun. 

I love that story. The other thing you did during the pandemic was you re-recorded "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings," a new version called "So Cold.” How did that come about? 

That was all A. G. Cook. He did an incredible series of live streams of parties and events, and for the PC Music Pop Carol Party he was like, “Look, this is about as pop carol as we can get, why don't we do a Christmas edit of ‘So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings.’" He wrote a lot of his lyric changes, including the great line, “don't send me presents” instead of “don't send me photos,” because “you're so cold, you're hurting my feelings.” Funny story about that version, he did my afterparty in London a few weeks ago, and at the peak dancefloor moment of the after party he slammed on the Christmas remix of that song. At a couple shows following that, I've accidentally sung the Christmas lyrics on stage instead of the real lyrics. Which has been extremely embarrassing, but you know, I guess we're all getting into the holiday spirit right now.

You're out on the road right now, and you're coming to Minneapolis. What's it been like getting back on stage?  

It's been surreal. I mean, I feel so lucky to be able to talk right now. I think it's still so many people's first shows back out. And, you know, I feel very grateful to say that a lot of my listeners really connected with my music during the pandemic. So we're having a very emotional response to it live right now, and I don't take any of this for granted. It's been very emotional for me as well.

The "Bunny Is A Rider" music video has been such a joy for me to watch over and over again, trying to understand what's going on. What does the music video represent to you as an artist?

"Bunny Is A Rider" is a song about being kind of unattainable. And in the age of cell phones we've never been more easy to reach. So obviously it's a fantasy, and we were thinking about myths that have to do with being hunted and being evasive. My co-director, Matt Copson and I started  talking about the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, and Theseus going down into the Labyrinth.

We started thinking about what does that mean for the camera? What's the ultimate camera depiction of evasiveness? And then I started looking at paparazzi footage and the way paparazzis interact with people, this kind of way of being followed by the camera and flirting with it, but also trying to shove it away and get rid of it, so we kind of combined all these ideas into one video, having the camera play the part of the Minotaur that’s simultaneously trying to kill me but I kill the camera at the end. Also working this idea of paparazzi cinematography into the camera work of the video of the idea of kind of pursuit.

Caroline Polachek performs at First Avenue on Tuesday, December 7 with Oklou. Tickets