Q&A: Venturing Into New Musical Territory, girl_irl Talks New EP, Inspirations & More
HYPER POP ELECTRONICA THAT’S SPIRITED THROUGH — intimidation and rumble, Atlanta-bred, Brooklyn-based DJ and producer, girl_irl has recently released new single, “float” and EP world champ, that are addicting to listen to. Girl_irl’s music is unique, with electronica elements that expand into different airs of their musical universe.
Fans of SOPHIE, COBRAH, and Shygirl will find comfort in girl_irl’s glitchy hyper pop, but the true essence of girl_irl is their lyricism. There is bitterness in their lyrics but in a way that takes power back from how they were treated and garners empowerment. Their tracks “girlboss” and “float” trap a powerful sense of back talk. With lyrics like “I’m a whole damn meal and you stay trapped,” and “Say I’m backseat but you know I’m the pilot” and an edgy bass booming in a glitchy wonderland, girl_irl makes you feel hot and dishy.
Read down below to get to know girl_irl and what their creative process is like.
LUNA: Hi! To start off, how has 2022 been treating you?
GIRL_IRL: 2022 has been great so far! I've been keeping busy like always :)
LUNA: Your new single, “float,” recently came out and it’s one that truly becomes addicting. I think I listened to it on repeat for a little too long. Your sound is unique — I feel like there is something special in the atmosphere of your music. What inspires your sound lately?
GIRL_IRL: Thank you so much! I've always loved the idea of taking two different kinds of sounds and creating something new out of them. I do a lot of genre-blending while DJing so it made sense to bring it into production. For the past year or so I've loved the concept of “industrial pop” … so there's been a lot of focus on that. I have a song on an upcoming EP and a good handful of music set to be released in the winter centered around “found sounds” that come with a feeling of nostalgia, too. So, lately it's also been a lot of field recording: capturing sounds and manipulating them from video games and toys that I have strong ties to.
LUNA: The girl_irl project and idea revolves around cathartic make-believe, which is an interesting set of words. What is the story behind that, and what does it mean to you?
GIRL_IRL: A magazine once asked me to describe what I make in three words — “cathartic make-believe” popped into my head and it just made sense! When my first single under [the moniker] girl_irl came out it was from an emotional dump of a past experience and a way to gain closure on it. After releasing that and seeing the difference between how it was received and how it resonated with me, it kind of allowed me to build my own narrative and a new world around that different [from] the one that was already built in place.
“Sinclair” came from a gritty place — mainly through the instrumentals — and was used as a way to gain closure on certain periods of my life. It was received as this sort of horny, Shygirl-esque type sound, which is totally fine! It grew into this way of imagining alternate realities of how my life would be lived if certain things didn't play out the way they did. I don't really believe in dwelling on the past, so at the moment it's leaning more towards building a character outside of myself; some aspects are still very much me, and I'm looking forward to finally releasing more vulnerable things in the future.
LUNA: “Float” touches on reclaiming body autonomy and acknowledging self-worth, and within that it’s empowering. Definitely a song to remind us of how powerful we can be with a killer mindset of confidence. The track also has some humorous (honest) notes within it, like “Get out my mentions if you can't even tap in” and “Call me Biden, giving top like I'm Sloppy Joe, you bitches spread lies like Politico.” It brings a nice contrast into the song while being rightfully true, making it fun to sing along to. How does the songwriting process look like for you, particularly for “float,” which has a consistent flow in lyrics?
GIRL_IRL: One of my close friends is one of the most incredible lyricists I know (Jack Lax). We sort of have this thing where we'll text a really dumb lyric or line or entire bar to each other and keep building and going back and forth, and usually we can write a whole song in the span of a few hours, max. “Float” basically came from two other songs being pushed together. We were in the studio one day with a few other people and we came up with the line “Feed them to the cat, Carol Baskin” and everybody else hated it, but lines like that are kind of our thing so we kept it for ourselves, and somehow we came up with the rest of the lyrics around that, which turned into what “float” is today. I'm pretty sure the "Biden giving top like I'm Sloppy Joe" actually came from a tweet they came up with and I replied with “You bitches spreading lies like Politico” because you know — rhyming!
LUNA: What got you into producing and electronica?
GIRL_IRL: A lot of what I've done, I just sort of fell into! When I first started “producing” I was actually doing some film work in Atlanta and playing in a lot of indie, punk and dream pop bands; one of my friends was just signed to this bigger punk label even though they didn't make punk and reached out for my help. We ended up working on this really sick album together, which snowballed into working with more people in more genres. To be honest, though, I don't really consider myself a producer. I produce but I feel like I'm not completely at that point where I can think of a sound I want to make and immediately make it — the ideas sort of come to me when they come to me.
LUNA: The visual part of “float” is you in a boxing ring throwing jabs as a video game character while the track plays in the background. It matches the energy in the track, such as the subtle jabs in the lyrics, and makes me feel like I could take someone in the ring. What led to that being the visualizer?
GIRL_IRL: I'm a longtime Tekken and Mortal Kombat player — at least 10+ years — and I've always loved the feeling of old ’80s underdog movies, so when I originally sat down to make this it was just to try and fit this bell sample that my friend sent me into a song, but the more I played with it the more it reminded me of boxing bells. I also grew up as a huge tomboy and looked up to a lot of femme boxers. It was basically a combo of all of that and actually getting back into kickboxing in the real world that made everything click into place!
LUNA: I really vibed with your track “vice” — it has an edge in the instrumentals that reminds me of early SOPHIE and early Micachu while still sticking true to your honest sound. What are some inspirations for you in sound? How has that guided you to shape your sound overall or even just in particular tracks?
GIRL_IRL: That's such a sick compliment, thank you! It was partially this time period I had where I would have these incredibly vivid dreams of songs, and I'd scramble to find my phone whenever I'd wake up and try to voice memo what I heard in the song and the scenery around it. I think I have to have at least 50 of those [that] I still scroll through sometimes — brains are wild (laughs). I'm also very into delving into texts of time and memory and how memories find their way back to you — right now [I’m] looking back on a lot of McTaggart and Shoemaker texts, but a lot of my inspiration comes from spontaneous memory. Lowkey, it's a little bit of a disconnect from my instrumentals and lyricism.
LUNA: What do you hope to explore in your music?
GIRL_IRL: So much, honestly. I hope to explore more of this specific side of the industrial musical landscape and play around more with textures and feelings. Looking into ways to incorporate more violin and symphony-esque sounds. Also there are so many artists I would love to work with but as of right now I feel really grateful to work with a lot [who] I look up to. I can't wait for everything in the musical pipeline to be released eventually!
LUNA: Fun little question I like to ask: If you were stuck on an island, what five records would you take with you and what three items?
GIRL_IRL: That's such a hard one, I feel like my musical faves rotate every other day but as of right now: Degrees of Light by Taylor McFerrin, SBTRKT’s self-titled album, Is It Real by Dinamarca & La Favi, Woah, Nelly! by Nelly Furtado, and probably Big Fish Theory by Vince Staples.
For three items, probably some water, an airplane pilot, and a plane to leave!
LUNA: Thank you for chatting with me! Aside from “float” being out, what else should we expect from you? What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?
GIRL_IRL: Thanks for having me! I have a mini EP coming out June 10 and a larger one in the winter, a few songs coming out in a few TV shows soon, and a lot of fun collabs! I'm looking forward to whatever happens! The future is exciting!
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