Boygenius Releases Three Songs, The World Gets Excited And I Yawn

The world’s most exciting supergroup? Why does Rolling Stone (and all the mainstream press) have to brown-nose every single Phoebe Bridgers project? I have listened to the three new songs, and exciting is not exactly the adjective that comes to mind. I don’t turn off the radio when I hear a boygenius song, but there’s nothing exciting or truly appealing.

The boygenius women have shared three new songs from their upcoming record, simply entitled “the record”: “$20” is a high-energy track with plenty of screaming and you will immediately recognize Baker’s style all over it. Sure, this song snaps and explodes with fierce energy, slight dissonance, and chaos – like many other Baker songs – but do I want to listen to it more than three times? Not really. “Emily I’m Sorry “ is basically a Phoebe Bridgers song, plus some harmonies from the two other boygenius, but it sounds like every song she writes. Her soft, vaporous, whispered vocals occupy a slow and boring soundscape and little much happens in the song. Finally, Lucy Dacus takes the lead for “True Blue,” and if the song has nice harmonies, there’s nothing really special about it. Then, are the three women really collaborating or is each one of them writing a song that they end up singing together?

Let’s be clear, I am not criticizing these songs because they were written by three young popular women. I am not hating women – I am anticipating some of the ridiculous comments you get every time you dare to go against the grain – I only fail to see the “exciting” superlatives you read everywhere. Plus, boygenius have only released one six-song EP, that’s it! Where does the hype come from? When did such unremarkable music get labeled the most remarkable thing ever? How can Bridgers afford such a powerful PR machine?

Of course, boygenius had to recreate a famous Nirvana pic cover but why exactly? To package them as the cultural equivalent of grunge legends? They were men, they are women, should we take it as the triumph of identity politics? I take it as a weird parody… just like Phoebe Bridgers trying to smash her guitar on national TV. This is ironically happening the day we learn about David Cosby’s death. Crosby called Bridgers’s guitar attempt to destroy her on SNL “pathetic” on Twitter, and she called him “little bitch.” Today boygenius seem to have the last word but honestly who will remember “Emily I’m Sorry” in a year or two? meanwhile, 40-year-old Crosby Stills and Nash songs will survive their creators and that’s all I need to know.