CONCERT: BOYGENIUS: THE WORD IS OUT, THE BOYS ARE BACK
By: Clara Seely-Katz
Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker are the unfathomably sexy trio that make up the band boygenius, and they are on a mission to steal all of our hearts. Or at least, that is what it feels like they are trying to do because once you listen to their album, they will have you on your knees laughing and sobbing, frantically searching for when their next live show near you is coming up and praying the tickets aren’t sold out yet. Listening to boygenius feels like working through and healing trauma. IT feels like High School Musical’s Troy and Chad doing a CHOREOGRAPHED number in a faux junkyard because the boys are back. IT is pure unadulterated FRIENDSHIP, and it is coming to a town near you.
Their new album, the record, is already amassing millions of streams and is turning all the kids gay. Well, they were already gay, but it’s making all of us realize how gay we actually are. Listening to the record on repeat for the weeks since its release made me feel a kind of peace I haven’t felt in years, the kind of peace you feel when you realize although you may be irreparably damaged, you’re not alone. Yes, you (like me) may be utterly and completely fucked up, depressed, and anxious, but if boygenius can make something beautiful from all of the garbage, then maybe there is hope for the rest of us.
The boys draw from so many iconic and familiar bands and musicians of the past to bring us this album that feels whole and warm, even if broken. It is the ultimate kintsugi of an album, shattered pieces glued back together with gold, making something more sturdy and beautiful than anyone could have imagined.
In addition to the new album, the boys have dropped some new music videos, including “the film,” which is a compilation of three of their most deadly songs, “$20,” “Emily I’m Sorry,” and “True Blue.” A visual delight of color and music, it makes you feel something deep in your gut. It is a sorrowful but beautiful feeling that pulls from behind the navel. When I watched it, I was reminded of crying with my friends, feeling tired and warm after a long day at the beach, and always getting dirty from playing outside as a child.
The music video/short film was directed by (of course) Kristen Stewart, which is completely surprising and feels utterly right. Kristen Stewart is a gay icon in her own right, and the presence of her hand on this piece of art is noticeable. It is soft but demanding of your attention, much like Stewart herself.
Dacus, Bridgers, and Baker are all powerhouse musicians, making the combination of the three of them downright dangerous. When I heard they were coming to the bay area as headliners of Re:Set I absolutely jumped on the opportunity the hear them live so I could tell my kids one day, “Yes, I saw boygenius live in an amphitheater at Stanford before they played ginormous world tours, cause I’m a cool mom” or whatever parents say about Paul Simon or Billy Joel today.
“You made me feel like an equal
But I’m better than you
And you should know that by now
When you fell down the stairs
It looked like it hurt and I wasn’t sorry”
“Emily, I’m sorry, I just (Emily, I)
Make it up as I go along
And I can feel myself becoming (I can feel)
Someone only you could want”
“I’m trying to be cool about it
Feelin’ like an absolute fool about it
Wishin’ you were kind enough to be cruel about it
Tellin’ myself I can always do without it
Knowing that it probably isn’t true”
If you like Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Elton John, Frankie Cosmos, Sufjan Stevens, and Hozier, then you will love boygenius.
If you like warm summer afternoons and cold winter evenings snuggling by a fire, then you will love boygenius.
If you like screaming along to your favorite songs while driving down the coast, then you will love boygenius.
If you are gay and depressed, even a little, you will love boygenius.
If you like good music, you will probably love boygenius.
All of this is to say that boygenius feels, looks, and tastes like a band that will be defining of a generation. If boygenius is coming to your area, I would highly recommend donning your Dr. Martens (or go against the crowd and wear the most dad-core Keens that you can find, as I did) and heading out to their show to stew in the crowd soup with the rest of the kids. Get there early, bring snacks, and remember to hydrate. You will laugh, cry, and lose your voice, but it will all be worth it.
I want to write so much more about boygenius and how they have single-handedly saved 2023 for me, but I don’t have time because I’m too busy sad-boy listening to the record and staring at my ceiling fan.
