It’s been a whirlwind five years for pop disruptor GIRLI.
From her debut album Odd One Out to being dropped by a major record label and pandemic-enforced tour cancellations, the 26-year-old has had to ride out the storm – and her sophomore record Matriarchy is the rainbow at the other end.
There’s a ferocity with which the Londoner confronts her emotions over the album’s 35 minutes of pulsing pop tunes, but it’s in appreciating the songwriter’s journey to this point that makes the album quite such a victory.
GIRLI has openly shared the tale of being dropped via a phone call after the release of Odd One Out. That time in the songwriter’s career saw a shift from her snarling debut hits to a more radio-oriented sound, a move completed with success among fans even if, by her own admission, at the price of true authenticity.
The pressure of that time and the mental health struggle that followed being dropped became the subject of tracks that started to spill out of GIRLI after the pandemic in a string of releases. That process provided the stepping stones on the way to Matriarchy and it makes for a cathartic rebirth on the star’s best release to date.
Having started the writing process for Matriarchy heartbroken and finished it loved up, the album makes for a messy splatter of emotions that still comes packaged as her most cohesive project so far – whether it be a break-up, identity crisis or lovesickness, GIRLI is feeling everything on her own terms.
No track embodies the Matriarchy mantra better than ‘Find My Feelings’, which sells emotional extremities as enticing cocktails. Woozy production gives way to a thudding chorus as the singer revels in the beauty of overthinking, “what other type of thinking is there?” she asks.
That question is at the heart of tracks including ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Her Too’ – if GIRLI is going to feel something, then she is going to FEEL it. On the former, the star hops on long-haul flights to follow a love interest and the latter sees a dinner party thrown for two girlfriends at the same time, because why choose?
With such a desire to run headfirst into life, it’s when GIRLI cracks the whip on production that Matriarchy is at its most outstanding. The world of MUNA and Robyn collide on ‘Nothing Hurts Like a Girl’ as the star’s penchant for heartbreak leans much more on joy than masochism – it’s a gut-busting flick begging for volume dials to be swung onto max.
There’s more where that came from on the 80s-influenced ‘Crush Me Up’ which sees the songwriter take to the dancefloor. “Crush me up, take too much, I don’t care,” she begs.
Elsewhere, it’s impossible not to feel a smile behind pleads of compassion from the universe on the grungy ‘Lose My Cool’ and ‘Matriarchy’ is a gloriously sexy sapphic battle cry. Meanwhile, ‘Poser’ is very much the older sibling of last year’s single ‘Imposter Syndrome’, but now GIRLI scolds that voice in the back of her head rather than letting it run riot.
Matriarchy does provide moments of respite from emotional delirium. Album opener ‘Be With Me’ is an easily-quotable ode to self-love and the record comes to an end on the tender ‘Happier Her’. That closing track is GIRLI at her most sincere, a heartfelt guitar-led admission that, “every morning I see me clearer, and I feel her in my bones.”
Wherever you turn on Matriarchy, from the lows to the highs, there’s a triumph in GIRLI’s songwriting. Getting here may not have been easy but when it sounds this good, it’s always worth the journey.
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