Boygenius (stylized in all lowercase) is an amazing band you should listen to. Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker make up boygenius. You might have heard of some of these names as this band is a supergroup. All three of the members already have their successful solo music careers. You may have heard Lucy Dacus’ “Night Shift” or Phoebe Bridgers’ “Motion Sickness”, and maybe Julien Baker’s “Favor”. If you haven’t listened to any of these songs or heard at least one, I would recommend listening to them because they are great songs.
The music they produce covers a range of emotions. I have to say most of the songs are sad like “Emily I’m Sorry” or “True Blue”; saying that, there are some songs you can rage to like “Satanist” or “$20”. Both of these songs are on the record. All of their songs’ lyrics have a deep meaning to them. The lyrics to one of their songs might sound simple on the outside but once you really listen to them and feel them you will later come to understand they have a deep meaning behind them. That’s something that is so great about boygenius, you can connect with their music. You can feel the anger or sadness they felt when writing these songs.
boygenius
In 2018 boygenius released their first EP together simply called boygenius. This first project of theirs is a nice introduction to them and the music they make. In this EP there are 6 stunning songs, each with their own individual meaning. The way boygenius does their songs is they usually have 1 or 2 songs all of them sing as a group but then the rest are solo songs that one member sings and the two other members do the melody or play instruments for that song. I really like how boygenius does this because it gives each member time to shine. They all have different voices and vocal ranges and when these beautiful voices come together, the end piece is amazing.
One of my favorite songs on the EP is "Souvenir". I can’t relate to this song's deep meaning, but I know that many people struggle with it. This song explores themes and ideas of past trauma and the struggles of mental health. The song's first few lines are “Dreamcatcher in the rearview mirror, haven’t caught a thing yet”. Even with the beginning lyrics of the song it tells you what the whole song is mainly about. A dreamcatcher we know is supposed to “catch” nightmares. Baker says that it “hasn’t caught a thing yet”. I think what these beginning lyrics are saying is that the person (possibly Baker), is trying to escape their past and move forward but can’t. Seeing these very few lyrics that I just analyzed seem plain on the outside but then when you really take the time and listen to the lyrics you’ll realize that these lyrics have a strong meaning. All of the songs on the EP are like this and I recommend listening to this EP first so you can have a taste of what is to come in “the record”.
the record
The Record is boygenius’ first full-length album with a total of 12 amazing songs. On this album, there are a majority of slow-sad songs but there are some upbeat. I’d say The Record is a very well-produced album and is one of my favorite albums of 2023. The combination of their great guitar skills and singing voices on this album makes it great and I know many people would agree.
This album is formatted like their previous project with them having a few songs they sing all together as a group and then their own solo songs. On this album, there are a few more songs that they do together as a group which is great because they sound amazing when they sing all together. Then again, they all have their unique voice that sounds just fine on their own. My favorite song on the record is “Without You Without Them”. “Without You Without Them” is the very first song on the album and sets the tone and mood of how the rest of the album will be. The song is only 1:21 minutes but in that short amount of time boygenius’ vocal ranges are more showcased in this song than any song on the album. One thing that I particularly like about this song is how they made the song so that each of their vocal ranges is showcased. Lucy has a deeper vocal range, Phoebe has a mix of a deep and high vocal range, and Julien has the highest vocal range out of all of them. In this song, they layer their voices on top of each other and there are no instruments playing at all in the song, just all of their voices. This proves that you don’t need instruments to make a great song.
Boygenius is overall a very good multi-talented band. They all have amazing voices, amazing guitar skills, and great performers. I have gone to two of their concerts. Each time I have gone, I have been blown away by how amazing they are. Putting these three amazing solo artists together to make a supergroup was a genius idea.