This has unfortunately reminded me of Charles Bissell of The Wrens tinkering with their album so long he imploded his band and we will never hear their LP4.
defining it as the "worst album of the year" instead of just saying you didn't like it tells us everything we need to know about where your judgement comes from
The whole album encompasses quite a deep and intricately complex portrait of the women’s friendship, and there are a lot of really great lyrical moves here. The place of such a bald expression of lesbian love or in other songs of compromised romance in the album is secondary but fits well as a common subject matter of the three, the kind of emotional weight shared among women often, whatever their orientation. And as I recall most of the lyrics of 90s female pop acts were pretty lame in comparison. Lyrics don’t usually stand alone as poetry. I disagree even about Taylor Swift’s lyrics, her albums unlike this one are generally only about romantic relationships or her own image, but she manages to navigate these well-worn subject areas without the songs falling flat as cliche—they a feature strong images and carefully wrought, idiosyncratic moments within narratives that are both relatable and specific to her. But anyway, one of the main strengths to me about this album is its portrait of their friendship and how they stand together as queer women is just necessary and no-duh in this age of bizarrely persistent right-wing anti-gay activism that is literally censoring narratives like those this album depicts so it’s still brave, but in any case it’s their lives, that’s what they have to say. I think the motley ness of the album, how it both combines their distinct sensibilities into new chemical compounds and enables each woman’s subjectivity to float solo in parts as also endemic to a 3-way friendship of this nature is just accurate, deft, defiant, and deep, and to my mind, this is their relatable truth to tell, and theirs only, its own individual version of beauty. Whenever you combine sensibilities like this it’s going to be original, and theirs are strong and wise and fun, so there
some of the lyrics were pretty silly to me, a minority were nice though. i also appreciate the concept. however the sound itself was very boring to listen to (which i was i have more criticism on the lyrics). the only songs i sort of enjoyed were not strong enough, anti-curse, and $20. i guess they just do the more rock songs better. compared to their first album, this one was pretty underwhelming.
They were great in concert. I did wish all the songs had the badass vibe of those ones. Some of the songs do come back to me at times, which shows they have a certain amount of emotional hold. Cool About It has a gorgeousness to it, Not Strong Enough I think is in the camp with those two. Satanist was insightful and could’ve been better, deeper somehow, but still was an important note in terms of their project. Oh well. It’s not on the level of Punisher. Julien Baker had especially great charisma and fire onstage, I love her voice, too.
This comment doesn’t say anything and is itself feeble. I think their album might be a little overrated myself, I don’t know. I was listening to it around and around and then stopped. It could be stronger…I don’t think I’m a mega fan of any of them individually, though Phoebe does have substantial talent. I think she could use a wider range, though. Even within her range she could use some conceptual variation. If I were boygenius I might have gone for more solid bangers than little bits, I think it’s an idiosyncratic portrait of their friendship, the (positive) NYT review by Lindsay Zoladz I thought pretty much got it right…it IS a bit too low key or something, like not quite serious enough??? I’m a huge Elliott Smith fan, and this is not Elliott level but I am going to the concert, we’ll see what happens
My comment says nothing and then you agree with it? You are describing the letting go of a record that has failed to grasp you beyond the utopian level you paint a portrait of above. Praxis always reveals the hole in theory.
ok well I re-listened and in the spirit of “praxis” report that I’d give the album an A-/A or maybe just a low A, like 94. I think it’s better than it seems in memory! Unfair also to compare anyone to Elliott Smith! I listened to his stuff for five years straight, pretty much exclusively, I threw in some recent Leonard Cohen, too, but that was it, and it never got old! I do think on “the album,” “Leonard Cohen” is disappointing, it’s so insubstantial for its title. And I think Phoebe Bridgers should at least have tried to write songs for more than just her, as a challenge or whatever. Her work, though good as Phoebe songs, seemed a bit like a cop out. Ok, enough from me!
Oh yeah, one more thought. I’m not sure how much you guys like Lorde, but I’m a huge fan, I think her first album was among the best debut albums of all time, and both that one and the next were A-pluses. But, I did like “Solar Power,” and I was thinking if I looked at “the album” next to it, they’re pretty neck-and-neck… SP has what I could see at three flaws—the debut single could have been more substantial, though it’s really pretty good for a summer song (but she can do better for a summer song), “Th man with the Axe” should’ve been replaced with a stronger song, even one of the bonus tracks, since it’s “meh,” if strange enough to be all right, and though the music of “Mood Ring” was good, the lyrics didn’t quite work as a satire, they were a little bit confusing, though the topic was great conceptually. Its strongest songs are more original than boygenius’s, though less “banger”-y. Ultimately with those flaws I think Lorde still might even pull ahead, on lyrics and originality alone…so yeah, it just shows you were looking at boygenius on a bit of a curve, considering Lorde doesn’t get the bi/queer “bump,” and got pretty unfair reviews from this perspective…
like the part about “complaining about humidity and the leaky faucet” is funny and well-wrought, I love the part Dacus has later in Satanist with Ecclesiastes, what a fun gymnastic philosophic fuck-you to fuck-you verse and song as a whole! Etc!
no wait it’s “pissed about humidity and the leaky faucet”—it’s good because of the pissed/faucet internal rhyme. Also, comparing a lover to the sun IS literary cf. Romeo to Juliet, though it is not usually a lesbian move, the moon is usually feminine generally in poetry, and the sun masculine, so that part plays with/against a lot of tropes
Oh yeah and then there’s a subtle stringing through effect of the “oo-oo” from that song to the last one Bridgers sings, two totally different stories about love, but I think in both cases these “oos” refer to Big Star’s “Thirteen,” an oft-covered and beloved song, never so subtly incorporated and used cool-ly across songs to suggest also a contrast with the simplicity of that one’s lyrics, but also an allegiance to its tender sincerity.
were there any songs you enjoyed tho? i kinda liked cool about it, 20$ and not strong enough but i'm torn whether it's because i like their solo projects and really wanted to like this record or i genuinely enjoyed some of these songs
Love the harmonies. The songwriting is pedestrian and the music is just too damn generic. The group has a LOT of potential, but they need to work on their lyrics and arrangements.
Thank you, especially the comment on “but summer’s in your blood”…I was so confused reading these lovely reviews on Rolling Stone, etc…”even better than everyone had hoped”? We can’t be listening to the same thing. I wanted to like it, honestly, but I laughed out loud a few times at how silly the writing was.
The most overrated artist for me these days is Billie Eilish. Whispering and/or mumbling nonsense over this very basic junk that sounds like it was recorded in her bedroom - and probably was! Additional points off for that same fake pouty face she makes in every single picture.
the music brings people joy. it brings me joy. if you hate it, so be it. the fact that you feel the need to put boygenius down with your hate speech just shows the kind of person you are. people like you will say shit online that they would never say to anyone in real life. i don't even know what you think you're accomplishing; this post did nothing to make me love boygenius any less. everyone is allowed to have an opinion, but JESUS you don't have to be such a bitch about it.
“If Refinery29 made music” is the most apt summation of this band I’ve ever read lmao. This shit could only ever be popular or successful in the age of Instagram “poets”. Absolute bilge.
I just came back to this article that I started reading in the car after I kicked yet another boy genius song (Blind Taste Test--I swear) off my Random Recommended Songs/Albums of 2023. I couldn't put my finger on why exactly they don't move me--you covered it succinctly.
fuck you little bitch
ilysm
This has unfortunately reminded me of Charles Bissell of The Wrens tinkering with their album so long he imploded his band and we will never hear their LP4.
defining it as the "worst album of the year" instead of just saying you didn't like it tells us everything we need to know about where your judgement comes from
The whole album encompasses quite a deep and intricately complex portrait of the women’s friendship, and there are a lot of really great lyrical moves here. The place of such a bald expression of lesbian love or in other songs of compromised romance in the album is secondary but fits well as a common subject matter of the three, the kind of emotional weight shared among women often, whatever their orientation. And as I recall most of the lyrics of 90s female pop acts were pretty lame in comparison. Lyrics don’t usually stand alone as poetry. I disagree even about Taylor Swift’s lyrics, her albums unlike this one are generally only about romantic relationships or her own image, but she manages to navigate these well-worn subject areas without the songs falling flat as cliche—they a feature strong images and carefully wrought, idiosyncratic moments within narratives that are both relatable and specific to her. But anyway, one of the main strengths to me about this album is its portrait of their friendship and how they stand together as queer women is just necessary and no-duh in this age of bizarrely persistent right-wing anti-gay activism that is literally censoring narratives like those this album depicts so it’s still brave, but in any case it’s their lives, that’s what they have to say. I think the motley ness of the album, how it both combines their distinct sensibilities into new chemical compounds and enables each woman’s subjectivity to float solo in parts as also endemic to a 3-way friendship of this nature is just accurate, deft, defiant, and deep, and to my mind, this is their relatable truth to tell, and theirs only, its own individual version of beauty. Whenever you combine sensibilities like this it’s going to be original, and theirs are strong and wise and fun, so there
some of the lyrics were pretty silly to me, a minority were nice though. i also appreciate the concept. however the sound itself was very boring to listen to (which i was i have more criticism on the lyrics). the only songs i sort of enjoyed were not strong enough, anti-curse, and $20. i guess they just do the more rock songs better. compared to their first album, this one was pretty underwhelming.
They were great in concert. I did wish all the songs had the badass vibe of those ones. Some of the songs do come back to me at times, which shows they have a certain amount of emotional hold. Cool About It has a gorgeousness to it, Not Strong Enough I think is in the camp with those two. Satanist was insightful and could’ve been better, deeper somehow, but still was an important note in terms of their project. Oh well. It’s not on the level of Punisher. Julien Baker had especially great charisma and fire onstage, I love her voice, too.
this is a nice and thoughtful post but it obviates the central truth that the music is feeble.
This comment doesn’t say anything and is itself feeble. I think their album might be a little overrated myself, I don’t know. I was listening to it around and around and then stopped. It could be stronger…I don’t think I’m a mega fan of any of them individually, though Phoebe does have substantial talent. I think she could use a wider range, though. Even within her range she could use some conceptual variation. If I were boygenius I might have gone for more solid bangers than little bits, I think it’s an idiosyncratic portrait of their friendship, the (positive) NYT review by Lindsay Zoladz I thought pretty much got it right…it IS a bit too low key or something, like not quite serious enough??? I’m a huge Elliott Smith fan, and this is not Elliott level but I am going to the concert, we’ll see what happens
My comment says nothing and then you agree with it? You are describing the letting go of a record that has failed to grasp you beyond the utopian level you paint a portrait of above. Praxis always reveals the hole in theory.
ok well I re-listened and in the spirit of “praxis” report that I’d give the album an A-/A or maybe just a low A, like 94. I think it’s better than it seems in memory! Unfair also to compare anyone to Elliott Smith! I listened to his stuff for five years straight, pretty much exclusively, I threw in some recent Leonard Cohen, too, but that was it, and it never got old! I do think on “the album,” “Leonard Cohen” is disappointing, it’s so insubstantial for its title. And I think Phoebe Bridgers should at least have tried to write songs for more than just her, as a challenge or whatever. Her work, though good as Phoebe songs, seemed a bit like a cop out. Ok, enough from me!
Oh yeah, one more thought. I’m not sure how much you guys like Lorde, but I’m a huge fan, I think her first album was among the best debut albums of all time, and both that one and the next were A-pluses. But, I did like “Solar Power,” and I was thinking if I looked at “the album” next to it, they’re pretty neck-and-neck… SP has what I could see at three flaws—the debut single could have been more substantial, though it’s really pretty good for a summer song (but she can do better for a summer song), “Th man with the Axe” should’ve been replaced with a stronger song, even one of the bonus tracks, since it’s “meh,” if strange enough to be all right, and though the music of “Mood Ring” was good, the lyrics didn’t quite work as a satire, they were a little bit confusing, though the topic was great conceptually. Its strongest songs are more original than boygenius’s, though less “banger”-y. Ultimately with those flaws I think Lorde still might even pull ahead, on lyrics and originality alone…so yeah, it just shows you were looking at boygenius on a bit of a curve, considering Lorde doesn’t get the bi/queer “bump,” and got pretty unfair reviews from this perspective…
Well, I really thought that before. I was then listening to it more.
like the part about “complaining about humidity and the leaky faucet” is funny and well-wrought, I love the part Dacus has later in Satanist with Ecclesiastes, what a fun gymnastic philosophic fuck-you to fuck-you verse and song as a whole! Etc!
no wait it’s “pissed about humidity and the leaky faucet”—it’s good because of the pissed/faucet internal rhyme. Also, comparing a lover to the sun IS literary cf. Romeo to Juliet, though it is not usually a lesbian move, the moon is usually feminine generally in poetry, and the sun masculine, so that part plays with/against a lot of tropes
Oh yeah and then there’s a subtle stringing through effect of the “oo-oo” from that song to the last one Bridgers sings, two totally different stories about love, but I think in both cases these “oos” refer to Big Star’s “Thirteen,” an oft-covered and beloved song, never so subtly incorporated and used cool-ly across songs to suggest also a contrast with the simplicity of that one’s lyrics, but also an allegiance to its tender sincerity.
love to see a respectful, thoughtful rebuttal on the comment thread. 👏🏼
Satanist is objectively good
were there any songs you enjoyed tho? i kinda liked cool about it, 20$ and not strong enough but i'm torn whether it's because i like their solo projects and really wanted to like this record or i genuinely enjoyed some of these songs
not strong enough is alright, rest is pretty fuckin bad
Rips off Sheryl Crow
Love the harmonies. The songwriting is pedestrian and the music is just too damn generic. The group has a LOT of potential, but they need to work on their lyrics and arrangements.
YES
omg you ate this....
Thank you, especially the comment on “but summer’s in your blood”…I was so confused reading these lovely reviews on Rolling Stone, etc…”even better than everyone had hoped”? We can’t be listening to the same thing. I wanted to like it, honestly, but I laughed out loud a few times at how silly the writing was.
The most overrated artist for me these days is Billie Eilish. Whispering and/or mumbling nonsense over this very basic junk that sounds like it was recorded in her bedroom - and probably was! Additional points off for that same fake pouty face she makes in every single picture.
production is interesting and unique especially for "pop"
well fuck you
the music brings people joy. it brings me joy. if you hate it, so be it. the fact that you feel the need to put boygenius down with your hate speech just shows the kind of person you are. people like you will say shit online that they would never say to anyone in real life. i don't even know what you think you're accomplishing; this post did nothing to make me love boygenius any less. everyone is allowed to have an opinion, but JESUS you don't have to be such a bitch about it.
i definitely say in real life boygenius sucks shit and ass
“If Refinery29 made music” is the most apt summation of this band I’ve ever read lmao. This shit could only ever be popular or successful in the age of Instagram “poets”. Absolute bilge.
“ Pop is good when it’s Pop, coiffed and pimped for pleasure or excess, not when it’s made into a Subaru commercial soundtrack.”
I love when critics bake in some casual homophobia and misogyny and pass it off as an astute opinion.
I just came back to this article that I started reading in the car after I kicked yet another boy genius song (Blind Taste Test--I swear) off my Random Recommended Songs/Albums of 2023. I couldn't put my finger on why exactly they don't move me--you covered it succinctly.