boygenius releases highly anticipated album, 'the record'
“You made me feel like an equal / But I’m better than you and you should know that by now,” Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus harmonize as they reclaim their worth in boygenius’s the record.
The three beloved indie rock artists turned their friendship into art in 2018 by coming together as a super group and releasing a debut, self-titled EP that passionately resonated with fans everywhere. Now - after five years of anticipation, boygenius showcases their growth as both musicians and twenty-something year olds by confronting everything from regret to hope and celebrating what it is to be human in their new album.
the record begins with ‘Without You Without Them’, an acapella piece guided by the trio’s delicately joined vocals. Short but powerful, this track resembles the feeling of an author’s foreword. It is a dedication to friendship, specifically the relationship they share with one another. With this, it is clear that this is an album created, not by three individual artists, but by a unit that is unique and in a lane of its own.
Tapping into rock roots with sprinkled hints of punk, ‘$20’ provides contrast with heavy drums that drive the track through its course. Lyrics like “Run out of gas, out of time, out of money” and “May I please have $20” appear to tell an anxious story of running yourself dry and looking to others to fuel you.
Following right after, ‘Emily I’m Sorry’ expands on the record’s consistent theme of growth and reflection. Phoebe Bridgers leads this apology to a past relationship, singing “I’m twenty-seven and I don’t know who I am / But I know what I want.”
‘True Blue’ pushes past themes of regret and stands as a hopeful reminder in the midst of turbulence that unwavering love exists. Dacus’s guiding vocals place confidence in trusting relationships and reaffirm the notion that we are all deserving of more.
While there is love that lifts, there is also love that “feel[s] like drowning”. boygenius explores this in the acoustic, folk-influenced ‘Cool About It’. A plea for honesty in the face of veils and tests, the group manages to encompass the emotional damage that coincides with love that harms us far more than it helps us. This unique ability to put words to the overwhelming feelings that we are often too afraid to acknowledge is a determining reason why Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus are so beloved and celebrated by their fanbases and the music community. boygenius makes music that awakens the numbness and provokes you to feel in a postmodern society that tends to encourage the latter.
A few tracks later, ‘Anti-cure’ re-invites classic rock into the record with an anthemic guitar riff. Although inspired by Baker’s near-death experience, this is seemingly not a song about fear but rather a celebration of a life lived well. She sings about finding the bright side of a bad situation with the line, “You don’t have to make it bad” - a possible reference to the Beatles classic, ‘Hey Jude’.
The record concludes with the highly-emotional, ‘Letter To An Old Poet’, revisiting the idea that love is not always a positive thing. With Bridgers leading vocals, she compares this love to her heart being held hostage - it’s something working against her. Maybe the most prominent lyric on the album, having been shared all over TikTok by boygenius fans, Bridgers sings “I want to be happy / I’m ready”. These simple yet impactful words contrast a past message from ‘Me and My Dog’, off the trio’s first EP, where Bridgers sang, “I want to be emaciated”. This shift from wanting to shrink one’s existence to a desire to claim and enjoy it is a testament to the growth and maturity the album as a whole possesses.
the record is an expressive collection of art by three women in their late twenties who may not have all the answers to the harsh wonders of the world, but know more than they did five years ago. boygenius reminds us that we are all flawed - it’s what makes us human. We endure pain and, at times, inflict it; but even so, life is still something worth exploring and sharing with the people who have earned the right to hear your story.
(Cover photo by shervinfoto)