boygenius is back and no one is okay
By Julia Norkus
The three horsemen of melancholia — Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus — make their musical return as boygenius with the perfect seasonal depression soundtrack. the record, released on January 18, 2023, is boygenius’s first set of singles since their self-titled EP in 2018.
boygenius is the brainchild of Baker, Bridgers and Dacus, cleverly named after the idea that little boys are built to one day rule the world while women are taught to just be quiet, as mentioned in their interview with Vogue. The trio was incidentally going to be touring together pre-boygenius and decided to write and record some songs to help promote the tour. Now, all three with flourishing careers in the indie music scene, they’ve returned to treat us all to sounds synonymous with a gloomy Boston winter.
Each single on the record features a different member of the group, starting with Julien Baker on “$20.” The trio has tight harmonies throughout the songs, each voice being distinctly different while still blending together seamlessly. In one of boygenius’s most notable songs, “Me & My Dog,” the trio harmonizes with ease during the chorus, and their harmonic power proves to only be getting stronger. “$20” is a driving opener, with pounding drums and a guitar pattern that puts you right in its pocket. The bridge gives way to layered vocals and a slowed feel, not to mention Dacus’ screaming and the feelings of agony that follow close behind.
The one line that all three sing in the beginning of the song, “In another life we were arsonists,” highlights the recklessness of youth. There’s so much to do and so much to experience, so much to ruin and build up again.
The second single, “Emily I’m Sorry,” has Bridgers at its head, adopting the style and sound associated with her albums Punisher (2020) and Stranger in the Alps (2017). With ethereally eerie vocals, the cadence of the song feels like Wheatus’s “Teenage Dirtbag” in a moodier and far more dirtbag-ier way. Lines like “I can feel myself becoming / somebody I’m not,” give “Emily I’m Sorry” the sound of an all-too-familiar apology for not being able to be there for someone you love — a very “it’s not you it’s me because I’m too sad” type of energy. And you know what? It’s awesome and it makes me want to throw up and cry.
Closing out the record, Lucy Dacus brings it home with “True Blue,” which is honestly her trademark color after the release of Home Video (2021) and its iconic cover depicting a movie theater and a solid blue screen. It once again lines up closely with Dacus’s individual style, but equally feels like a blend of both Baker’s “$20” and Bridgers’s “Emily I’m Sorry,” tied up with scrumptious harmonies into a beautiful navy bow. It’s an ode to the intimacy of being known by a partner, but being scared of knowing oneself on that same level and often forced to face all the dark, icky parts that we don’t show others. Probably the greatest line in the whole song, “When you don’t know who you are / You fuck around and find out,” brings lights to the interconnected nature of all three songs.
All three are love letters to vulnerability — it’s the human experience at its purest, diluted into three musical works written by three different artists. There’s a reason why the music of Dacus, Bridgers and Baker hurts us so deeply, and it’s because it’s honest in a way that breeds discomfort and self assessment. When you listen to “True Blue,” the final piece of this three part puzzle, there’s a familiarity to it. There’s this universal fear of being known and being loved, because if someone sees us too up close, too raw, we fear losing the love we’ve found. Like in “Emily I’m Sorry,” the apology for not being able to stay due to one’s own personal flaws or Baker’s “$20,” the feeling of restlessness and the pursuit of finding oneself.
boygenius has returned and no one is okay. You will be gutted, sobbing and sweating on the floor, because they’ll say all these painful, heart wrenching, soul crushing words and disguise it with beautiful harmonies to help mimic the heartbreak. But then they’ll tell you just what you need to hear to clean yourself up and keep moving right through the wreckage.