I can’t remember the last time a piano was such a strong character in a song. The next song played, and I could tell from the first few lyrics it was going to be one of my favorites (it currently is). This got me extra excited for the rest of the record, and a tad internally embarrassed. I then realized the first time I heard “Serotonin” was during a lecture I had watched for class. As the song started, I felt like I was listening to a completely different song. The chords came in with a cool, punk-sounding intro that made me double take. I remember it sounding like it was trying too hard to be a pop song, trying too hard to be deep in the chorus, and sounded too washed out. As I start the album, at the forefront of my mind, I think “I remember not liking the lead single…” and as it’s the first on the album, I think this as I hear it play. I went upstairs to my bedroom in my tiny apartment and settled in to listen. She posted a singular story on her Instagram page about her album, and it made me so happy for this small artist who I danced to in my bedroom. The day came when her album was released, and the picture of the double doors I took at Amoeba (drumroll) did… not remind me.īut, my favorite artist of all time, Taylor Swift, did. I bought an LP of her two EPs on red vinyl, and a deluxe version of her first 7 inch release, and played them every day for a month. She had a pounding backbeat behind most songs, and even when there wasn’t it somehow felt like there was, and she diluted her voice and added a ton of reverb like some of the 90’s bands I’m really into right now. Her music definitely had a tone and theme to most of them, of love songs with an omnipresent twinge of saccharine, that were clearly but never overtly about longing for girls. I started to check out her deeper cuts, and realized I liked all of her music, including her singles, so much more now that I had seen her range. Those kinds of responses you get are what build connections to fans early on. Even though I knew it wasn’t a huge deal, it still felt kind of exciting. She wrote back and said she loved me back, as per her unwritten job description. I asked her a question about songwriting, as a writer myself, and said “I love you!”, the thing you tack on when you are within the range of passively liking and being completely obsessed with a celebrity. I had never done one, for any artist, but thought it would be a cute thing to do, not expecting a response. Then, girl in red to the first Reddit AMA (ask me anything) I ever participated in. I was a bit sad I missed her, but not too torn up about it. I checked the lineup again, and I realized it was not, in fact, girl in red, but Soccer Mommy (who is also amazing, but I did not know of her at the time). I didn’t recognize any of “those two songs about being gay, right,” which confused me. I stopped by because the sad indie girl in me was burgeoning and I knew I liked what I’d heard of her, and I had a break between the other artists I wanted to see. Then, she was what I thought was a name on the Coachella lineup the year I went. (This notion has become so prevalent that “do you listen to girl in red?” has even become a saying that inhabits a decent subsection of pop culture within the queer community for a girl to signal to another that they’re interested in them). This can be especially true if you know her from TikTok trends of couples, or as “that girl who has those two songs about being gay, right?”, directly quoted from my roommate and the minds of those slightly-into-indie-music everywhere. Girl in red is an artist that at first glance could seem like a diluted amalgamation of the new wave of queer, trendy female artists coming onto the current music scene. “I just want to be able to remember to listen to it later, and it looks sick against the doors!” I explain. I snap a quick picture so I don’t forget to check it out later, and the guy I’m dating gives me a funny look. As I stand in the 40 minute line at the new Amoeba Records Hollywood location, I see one of the double doors against the wall advertising the new girl in red album, if i could make it go quiet.
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