Friday 7/24: Girlpuppy—"Cheerleader"
Today, we share our thoughts on a song by a new Atlanta singer-songwriter called Girlpuppy.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on a song by an Atlanta singer-songwriter called Girlpuppy.
Girlpuppy—“Cheerleader”
Eric Bennett:
Do you ever see something that feels so specifically in line with your interests that your physical response is closer to anger than delight? I saw the press around the new single from girlpuppy, and immediately my brow furrowed, my eyes narrowed in suspicion. The track produced & co-written by Phoebe Bridgers’ drummer Marshall Vore and his much tweeted about girlfriend, Ruby Henley. That aside, the track feels like a long-lost cousin to the open-hearted rock of Soccer Mommy’s debut album. Becca Harvey, the mastermind behind the project, even has the saccharine voice that helped launch Sophie Allison to notoriety. The song itself is lovely, full of melancholy reflection on youth and the frailty of love. It’s at just the right pace where someone would probably wave a lighter—or more likely an iPhone flashlight—in the air while it plays. I find myself incredibly on board for this band, but I’m looking over my shoulder. Someone is obviously trying to use sadgirl indie to lure me into some kind of trap.
Eli Enis:
OK, I’m sorry but Girlpuppy is a stupid name. Yes, I acknowledge that there’s a long history of terrible band names—friend of the pod Keegan Bradford even suggested last week that all band names are bad names—but Girlpuppy is just a particularly unimaginative entry from that tired Tweet format making fun of Soccer Mommy-esque monikers. Sadly, whereas Eric is cautiously overjoyed about getting what’s essentially a musical targeted ad for them, I’m going to be a little more pessimistic. A brand new songwriter coming out of nowhere with a Phoebe Bridgers-adjacent cosign on their second single and a full PR campaign (and with a name like Girlpuppy) just feels. . .questionable? But I’ll save any further speculations on this person’s wealth and focus on how it’s the song itself that leaves me unimpressed.
It’s Pretty and Sad and Confessional in all the right ways, but it feels more like a songwriter checking the boxes of that aesthetic instead of actually living that persona in the way Phoebe Bridgers—the quintessential cusper sadgirl—somehow does. There’s a shoehorned astrology reference (“gemini moon and a virgo rising”), a shallow metaphor about a high-school archetype (the dejected cheerleader, oh the irony!), and the supposed climax is a whole verse about her reflexively checking her phone and wondering what her shitty ex is up to. The hook is just the phrase “Can’t tell if it’s my fault”, which I guess is supposed to heavily reinforce the idea that she feels confused about the unpleasant situation she’s found herself in? None of these lyrical decisions are offensive, they just feel somewhat manufactured and, more than anything else, boring. The most interesting parts of “Cheerleader” aren’t even Girlpuppy, but the admittedly beautiful dollops of synths and pianos that other people play on the track. After a few listens I can’t help but think that I’d rather get this type of thing straight from the source and listen to Soccer Mommy.