ALBUM REVIEW: GIRLI - MATRIARCHY

Girli bursts into the music scene with her vibrant pink hair and fierce attitude to grace everyone’s ears with the most exciting and heart-wrenching album ever.  ‘Matriarchy’ experiments with the bubble-gum-pop-punk genre to not only invigorate her audiences, but confront them, as she navigates her experiences as a young queer woman.

 Here are 4 songs from the album that struck a chord to me the most.

 Be with me

 The first track of the album ‘Be with me’ juxtaposes the relationship between self-love and that desperate yearning to be loved by another person.  She highlights the importance of prioritising yourself, noting that having a ‘relationship with yourself is the best relationship ever’.  

She uses an upbeat melody with such raw and emotive vocals, and its honestly so beautiful to listen to. We all know Girli is no stranger to pouring her heart out on a catchy tune, and she does it so seamlessly. It’s a testament to her genius song writing.   

Nothing hurts like a Girl  

 The next track ‘Nothing hurts like a girl’, is a perfect sapphic love bop.

In this song, Girli delves into the complexities of queerness in which she notes the intensity of falling in love with a woman.  

Here, she takes her listeners on a journey through her own discovery of sexuality as she notes the dissatisfaction of conforming to hetero-normativity and feeling liberated in her queer relationships. At the same time, she highlights the intensity of heartbreak in these relationships in which ‘we both feel things too deeply’. 

In this song I noticed she blends pop, punk and electric elements – I particularly LOVED the groovy base melody – definitely got me dancing along.

 Overthinking 

‘Overthinking’ perfectly captures the trials and tribulations of being a young adult in this generation.  

Her lyrics talk about mental health in the age of social media and the pressures of becoming an adult – not knowing what the fuck is going on and feeling overwhelmed all the time. I really felt the line ‘feels like I’m losing a game nobody taught me how to play’. 

The futuristic electric synth that fades in and out coupled with the angelic vocals reminds me a lot of Florence and the machine and I love it. 

 Matriarchy  

There is a reason matriarchy was the album title:

Matriarchy as the album title because that word means so many things to me. The matriarchy of being a queer woman in love with another, the matriarchy of being my own queen who governs my life (or queendom), and a commentary on taking back power.” 

This feminist anthem explores exactly that- it acts as a rejection of the patriarchy through a championing of the feminine. 

She celebrates female bodies in their natural, sexual state and is so liberating to hear as a woman. But, what I love about this song is that she intelligently separates a ‘woman and her body’ to reject the female body as an object, but celebrates the feminine and the body as a soulful, intimate relationship.  

I felt so empowered listening to this - it made me think about the connections I have with women and how meaningful those relationships are compared to men. Its such a ‘fuck you’ to hetero normativity under patriarchy and an utter celebration of queer love. I think it’s a perfect song to conceptualise the album-it’s exactly Girli’s style – it’s catchy, its provocative, it’s a riot to listen to.  

CONCLUSIONS: LISTEN TO THE DAMN ALBUM, YOU WONT BE DISSAPOINTED 

Listen to Girlis new album - streaming 17th of may – or just get into her other work in general. This emerging queer artist is really changing the game for the music industry and I’m so here for it.