“…Queer, white girl music. You’re gonna love it.” – Phoebe Bridgers
When you think of Phoebe Bridgers, you may think of skeletons, winter, snow, tears, and depression. Those are fair associations, but her music is much more than that. Phoebe Bridgers’ songs take on heavy topics like inappropriate age gaps, distant fathers, and being the problem.
Many people who aren’t invested in pop culture wouldn’t immediately know Bridgers is in a boy band — boygenius.
Boygenius got their start with an EP release in 2018, and they dropped another called “The Rest” on Oct. 13, 2023. The band consists of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus.
Julien Baker has three solo albums, which have the same sharp vocals witnessed in “The Record.” You can hear them specifically in “Salt in the Wound” from their first EP, and the same thing is witnessed with “The Rest.” Her lyrics typically center on addiction, heartbreak, and her relationship with Christianity.
Lucy Dacus has four solo albums, all ridden with her heavy lyrics on stories of love and loss. Her songs have shifted from her first release, going from instrumental to synths. By her third album, you can hear a consistent sound of deep bass and muted synths.
In “Powers,” you can hear Julien Baker’s lead vocals accompanied by an acoustic guitar, one typically seen in Phoebe Bridgers’s solo albums. You can hear Dacus’ lovelorn lyrics throughout the EP, as well as her references and allusions to pop culture moments, novels, and more.
The EP was released while the band was on tour, and just a few months after their first album release. Some of these songs were performed unreleased at a few of the shows, where they were decked out in suits, ties, skirts, button-downs, and loafers. The lyric videos contain photos of them chaotically dancing on stage, cuddling up to each other while belting out the lyrics to their songs.
It feels oddly full circle, the release of these songs, with an album cover of them facing away stoically looking over the water. Their silhouettes are in a reversed order of how their hands show up on “The Records” cover. The lyrics are mournful of something gone, almost like an end to an era. Like the perfect cherry on top of a sundae.
