Description
Debut studio album by indie rock supergroup boygenius!
Trio formed by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus
Package includes gatefold jacket, temporary tattoo and 24-page fan 'Zine
"All over The Record, they keep recombining their individual styles into a different kind of chemistry for each song. That's why they transcend any kind of 'supergroup' cliche. After all, supergroups are a dime a dozen compared to actual great bands. And boygenius leave no doubt about where they stand." — 5 Stars, Instant Classic! Rolling Stone.
"Collectively, boygenius feels heftier and hookier than Baker, Bridgers and Dacus do on their own, and this collective instinct towards immediacy pays great dividends: it's bracing to hear such introspective singer/songwriters embrace the pleasures of a united front." — AllMusic
"The result is some of the most pristine songwriting Bridgers, Dacus and Baker have ever penned. … This debut is a gorgeous testament to what can happen when you allow yourself to fully be seen." — NME
Rumors about a debut album from boygenius began spreading in late 2022-2023, after the trio was spotted in a photoshoot together in November 2022 and after boygenius was announced on Jan. 10, 2023 to be on the 2023 Coachella festival lineup. The album was announced Jan. 18, 2023 together with the release of three lead singles, "$20," "Emily I'm Sorry" and "True Blue." Boygenius released the album's fourth single "Not Strong Enough" on March 1, 2023, along with an accompanying music video edited by Bridgers' brother Jackson Bridgers.
The first track on boygenius' studio album poses a question, sung by three voices in harmony: "Who would I be without you?" It's not that the three songwriters of boygenius — Baker, Bridgers and Dacus — want to imagine possible futures or interrogate the past; instead, they're asking the question as a reminder to cherish our most formative relationships, to honor the vital role these intimacies can play in shaping our very sense of self.
"My life is defined by my friends," Dacus told Weekend Edition, and, at its heart, the record — the band's aptly titled first full-length album — is a celebration of that fact.
Each of the three members of boygenius had promising solo careers when they formed the group in 2018 and released a self-titled EP, critically acclaimed for its elegant songwriting and rapturously beloved by fans who saw the trio as a whip-smart Holy Trinity of indie rock. After that, each member went back to her individual career — Baker and Dacus each released level-up third records; Bridgers collaborated with everyone from Conor Oberst to Taylor Swift, and her sophomore solo album earned her Grammy nominations — and all politely declined to answer frequent questions about when the band was getting back together.
But in June 2020, unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Bridgers tentatively sent Baker and Dacus a demo of a new song and asked if boygenius could be resurrected. Baker made a Google Drive; each member started adding songs; by January 2022, the three of them went to Malibu, Calif. to make a record. They spent 10 hours in the studio per day, every day, for a month.
In the bio that accompanies the album, Baker lovingly says the hardcore recording schedule is the result of the songwriters — whose tight-knit friendship predates their supergroup and grew, in part, out of their shared early experiences in the music industry — being "at least one type of the same psycho."
Sometimes friendship is simply another word for finding your kind of psycho.
