A Look Into Boygenius

Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker are what make up the magnificent EP that is Boygenius. The three of them are some of the most influential women in the Indie rock scene. Boygenius has 6 magnificent songs which each of the musicians wrote either together or separately, but sing together. In August of 2018, Phoebe Bridgers announced that they has made an EP under the name Boygenius. This name is important because in the Indie Rock industry a boy can be an individual genius as women are all the same. The irony of the name adds to the art of the album, it gives each song a deeper meaning and connection to each other. Each musician’s previous solo albums crossover frequently throughout the lyrics of each song. The idea of heartbreak, self-worth, and confronting grief are all apparent themes throughout the entirety of the EP. Phoebe has an intimate and almost shy voice, Baker has more emo tones and which gives each song on Boygenius even more underlying sadness. Dacus is extremely clear and dense, she is confrontational and direct.  The three of them created a work of art that is meaningful and remarkable. 

The album begins with “Bite The Hand,” Dacus vocals begin this song and album. This song can be taken in many different ways. This song seems as though it would fit perfectly with Lucy’s album Historian, but Phoebe’s ghostly guitar and Julien’s emotive voice make it the perfect opener for the album. In a literal sense, this song is about the musician’s fans and their relationship with them. The version that Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien present to their audience is not their full true self. Lucy spoke in an interview, “Don’t feel beholden to the people that buy concert tickets. You still have to make art that’s true to yourself. Don’t be a people pleaser,” Although that may seem harsh, this feeling is true to many artists. Fans can often be disrespectful and demand too much from the artists. Musicians often, “bite the hand” that feeds them as the fans are what is “feeding” the artist whether that is from gaining then popularity or just supporting their art in general. Lucy Dacus is a master at tough love and honesty. From the fan’s perspective “Bite The Hand,” may be a song that refers to not being able to love someone the way they deserve to be loved, whether that is a significant other or friend as the song repeats the lyric, “I can’t love you how you want me to.” 

The following song on the EP is the magnificent, “Me & My Dog,” which is a personal favorite song of mine and has been extremely significant in my life. Phoebe’s lyrics and voice are what overpower this song. Phoebe Bridgers wrote this song about having a panic attack and wanting to escape the reality of her anxiety and her life itself, to be with her dog Max, who devastatingly passed away. This song is relatable to anyone who has dealt with anxiety, loss, or heartache. Wanting to escape from reality is an understandable feeling that many people feel while experiencing hardships. Phoebe begins the song with, “We had a great day,” and then follows it by describing things that may have spoiled the day, like hunger, bad dreams, and sleeplessness. Later in the song she sings, “I didn’t want to be this guy / I cried at your show with the teenagers,” people often don’t want to be “that guy” that loses emotional control as they feel like they ruined the night or are a burden. The teenagers are crying at the show because they are fans, but Phoebe is presumably crying because of a panic attack. The last line of this verse is, “In the morning it won’t matter,” and earlier she sang, “I’m fine now, it doesn’t matter,” these lyrics are Phoebe invalidating her feelings, which is often what someone does when they feel as though they don’t have a particular reason for their anxiety or depression, it is just simply there. When Phoebe sings, “I wish I was on a spaceship / Just me and my dog and an impossible view,” it is obvious that Phoebe craves this sense of escapism away from her reality. At this point, she wants to forget all the negativity that may be happening in her life, and sit peacefully with her dog, a feeling that is apparent in everyone’s life. “I dream about it,” she sings in the outro, which makes the yearning even more apparent.

The third song on the album is “Souvenir”, which is equally sung by all three of them. “Souvenir” is an unconventional love song that adds to the idea and fear that one is not worthy enough of the love their partner gives. This song is in the middle of the album and interprets all of the artist’s voices and lyrics within it. To me, this song is about feeling unlovable, it is a love declaration to someone and they are worried that they are not cable of being loved as much as they love their significant other and feeling as though they need to solve their own internal issues before allowing themselves to be loved as they show. “Pulling thorns out of my palm,” this lyric may represent the difficult process of resolving one’s internal issue. In the last verse of the song, Lucy Dacus sings, “When you cut a hole into my skull / did you hate what you see / like I do,” Lucy is asking if the “other” hate them as much as they hate themself. I interpret this lyric as being afraid to let someone see the real you, inside your mind, and the things that go on in it. Being afraid to let someone you love see that part of you because you yourself hate it. 

“Stay down” is simply about a breakup and the emotions and confrontation that one goes through during that. It is the feeling that one goes through while working through conflict. Julien Baker sings, “So would you teach me I’m the villain, aren’t I?” this lyric may represent gaslighting in the relationship, which proves the toxicity of it. It could also be the speaker repenting all the things they have done wrong in the relationship. “Constantly repenting for a difficult mind?” often people that struggle with mental health issues have unrealistic beliefs about the world and people in their life, they feel as though everyone and everything is out to get them, this may cause a strain in their relationship. Following that, a lot of introverted, especially if they have mental health issues or issues in general find it hard to open up to people, and it takes them a while to fully open up to them. People may sometimes find this to be an initial hesitation or rejection, which may also be a way of self-sabotage. “It takes so long for me to settle down /And when I finally do, there’s no one else around,” as this song describes the listener can sense how hard it will be for the singer to recover from this relationship and get over it, as it took them so long to find someone and open up, and so now they will just, “stay down,” or give up. 

“Salt In The Wound,” the central image of this song is that of a magician, constantly playing tricks and entertaining people. In my mind, this song’s main theme is toxic masculinity and how women are treated in society whether that is in workplaces, friendships, or relationships. It shows how men constantly, “take, and take,” by robbing females of their art, or victories, and the power that they hold. “Trick after trick, I make the magic / And you unrelentingly ask for the secret,” this lyric holds a lot of grit, it is obvious that these three women would refuse to be taken advantage of and used for someone else’s good. 

The last song on the album is “Ketchum, ID” which is melancholic and nostalgic, it’s about longing for home while you are in your mid-20s and don’t have a place that feels like home as it used to when you were a child. The chorus of the song sings, “I am never anywhere

Anywhere I go / When I’m home, I’m never there,” this may be seen in a literary sense, that when Julien, Phoebe, and Lucy are on tour they are everyone, but also nowhere at all, as they are never there “long enough to know,” and how when they do go home it is only for a short period of time before they leave again for a tour. The audience may take this song in a more realistic relatable sense, how when you move away from home whether that is because of college or not, you often don’t have a place that has that same comforting sense that your childhood home once did. People may also feel this way when they move a lot, or with new people in their lives, and how they may never feel themselves again because the childhood version of themselves is gone. Literally, this song is an example of how musicians feel when they are on tour away from their loved one, “ Everyone’s around /And I hear you smiling / You say ‘I love you’ / I say ‘You too,’” this represents two people losing connection due to being apart and they may feel like they do not know each other as they once did. This song is a great way to end the album, as it is a soft nostalgic closer about wanting to move to quit Idaho and live a simple life.