Australian singer-songwriter Rowena Wise is exploring love, identity and personal transformation on her sophomore album, “Bad Things Feel Good*,” released Friday through Beloved Records and 22Twenty.

The 10-track indie folk record arrives after a string of singles, including “Blood Ties,” “Diamond In The Rough,” “Home In This World” and the recently released “Unlearning Of Love,” which serves as the album’s emotional centerpiece.

Wise said the album grew from a period of personal reflection while touring and grappling with change, heartbreak and questions about what healthy relationships can look like.

“I have been careless with my heart, dishonest to myself about what I want and who I am. I’ve loved, lost, and left the realm of comfort to pursue hard truths,” Wise said. “I realize now that pain has become something that doesn’t senselessly happen. It comes as one part of a larger picture, and I want to learn from it rather than recoil. Now I don’t know who I am, but I do know that I just want to be human, to be at peace with the messiness of life without continuing to try to tell a clean, novel story about it.”

Among the album’s tracks, “Unlearning Of Love” reflects on relationships that exist outside traditional expectations. Wise said the song was written while she was questioning assumptions about romance, friendship and emotional connection.

“Non-monogamy was part of the context in which I wrote this song. I was experiencing the confusion of loving multiple people at once, but more than that, I was wondering what a new connection could become when there were fewer assumptions or expectations around it,” she said.

“There was a real tension in not knowing where friendship ended and romance began, or whether it needed to become either. That openness could feel scary and obscure, but it was also exciting, meaningful and incredibly expansive. Getting to know people in that more open way taught me as much about myself as it did about others, how differently people love, communicate, attach and move through the world.”

The accompanying music video, directed by Australian musician Didirri, avoids a traditional narrative in favor of visual moments centered on vulnerability and growth.

“I wanted it to mirror the song’s quiet, restrained power while holding onto a sense of tenderness,” Wise said. “Rather than tell a linear story, we created a series of visual moments that explore the tension between uncertainty and intimacy, capturing the strange beauty of letting old parts of yourself fall away to make room for growth.”

Produced by Rob Muinos, the album was recorded live over three days at The Ratshack studio in Melbourne with bassist Richard Bradbeer, drummer Jess Ellwood and pedal steel guitarist Matt Dixon. The live recording approach preserves much of the spontaneity and intimacy that defines the project.

Wise, who grew up in Margaret River, Western Australia, has built an international audience since releasing her debut single in 2018. Her first album, “Senseless Acts of Beauty,” was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize, and she has toured across Australia, Europe and North America while supporting artists including Holy Holy, Ball Park Music and Bernard Fanning.

She will begin a tour of New Zealand and Australia in September in support of “Bad Things Feel Good*,” with additional dates, including a North American tour, expected to be announced.