My Girli Top 10 Countdown
Girli is truly one of the fiercest pop stars to come along in a while. Girli is not afraid to speak her mind and she gives zero f***s if that offends anybody and I'm here for it! From toxic masculinity to restrictive gender roles, Girli is here to tell it like she sees it and that's made her one of my favorite pop girls at the moment. As I have said many times before on this blog, having a great voice is nice but in the arena of pop music it's more important to have a unique voice, great bops and be able to infuse your own personality into your music as much as possible. This is why Madonna is my favorite female pop star of all time. Everything Madonna does is uniquely hers and all her songs are filled with her personality to the point that only she could have delivered those songs. Madonna may not be the best singer of all time but she is the greatest pop diva of her time.
I bring this up because this is how I feel about Girli. She may not have the voice of Adele or Ariana Grande but no one else could deliver Girli songs except for Girli. In Girli's Spotify Bio it says "Sure, it's pop. But it's pop done the Girli way." That sums up Girli's music perfectly. It's pop but pop that you have not heard done quite like this. Sure you can detect a few influences such as Kesha, Elastica, Tove Lo, Gwen Stefani and yes Madonna, but it feels new and fresh because Girli herself feels new and fresh.
Girli also mixes pop and rap in a way that feels seamless and authentic, which can be a hard trick to pull off in all honesty. Girli is also bi sexual and will sing about hooking with girls and boys much like Tove Lo. I first heard about Girli through a friend I made on Twitter on a queer pop group chat who lives in Ecuador. I got him into Madonna big time and he then started mentioning this new pop star to me called Girli, which made me intrigued. I think I first heard her music though The Q Review podcast back when it first started over a year ago. They talked Girli up a lot and declared her new single at the time as one of their picks of the week.
So I finally dove head first into Girli's catalog and it didn't take long for me to pick up what she was putting down. I introduced her music to my friends and my friend Amanda loved her and when Amanda's roommate heard Girli's music while Amanda was playing it she became a fan too. My husband also stated liking her music too, especially Deal With It and as we all know if my hubby likes a song then it's a bop!
Girli has a pretty solid number of songs to her name already so I'm gonna pick out my personal favorites and count them down for you. I feel overall Girli's music has gotten better and better as time goes on so there are a solid amount of songs off her latest album and the more recent EPs. As always this is not a definitive ranking but just my personal opinion.
10. Girl I Met on the Internet
One of Girli's earliest songs already sees her breaking boundaries at the age of 17. Here Girli fantasizes about meeting a girl on the internet that can be her girlfriend. Girlie wants to show off this new girl to all her friends as well as brush off this new girl to her parents when they ask why she is hanging out with a girl so much:
"I wanna have a cute chick on my arm
Make the boys swoon and the girls all gasp
And when my mum asks where we met
I'll say it's just this girl that I met on the internet."
Musically the song has that Lo-Fi production that sounds like an older video game with a hook that will get stuck in your head without you realizing it. This song establishes Girli as someone who is not gonna play by the rules of polite society and she would only get better from here.
9. Fuck Right Back Off to LA
This one is kind of ridiculous but kind of genius at the same time. For those who want to know the song title is the main hook of the song that she repeats over and over again so definitely don't play this around the kids. There's more to the song than that though. Here Girli finds out the man she's been dating from the U.S. has a girlfriend and has kept Girli in the dark about it until recently. Needless to say Girli is not happy about it! My favorite part of the song is actually before the song itself starts. The song opens with Girli saying in her most disgustingly shocked voice as possible:
"What?!? You're telling my now that you've got a f***ing girlfriend!?!? Are you for real!?!?"
I love the way Girli says this opening line to the point that I randomly find myself quoting this opening a lot when I'm just driving around. This is basically the break up song for the moment you find out your significant other has cheated on you and you are just filled with rage about it!
8. Stick Out
This song reminds me of late 90s/early 00s Alternative Rock with the acoustic guitar over a light hop-hip beat, which was all the rage back then trust me. As an Alternative Rock fan myself I am drawn to the song due to the guitar. The main hook also reminds me a bit of the Violent Femmes. In the song Girli compares herself to someone who is looking for constant validation from others and how much a waste of time it is to do that:
"You care about your hair
Way more than anybody should
Care about their hair
It's kinda sad that you
You go, and you pose, and you post
For your fake, faux friends but I don't careYou wanna fit in
I wanna stick out
You wanna fit in
I wanna stick out
I'm gonna stick out
I'm gonna mess around
I'm gonna stick out
I'm gonna stick out (yeah I'm gonna stick out)."
This song is good example of why I like Girli, because she is not here to please other men or fit in with mainstream culture. She does things that make her happy and if that makes other people uncomfortable then that's their problem and not Girli's.
7. Mr. 10 PM Bedtime
Mr. 10 PM Bedtime is a cute little pop song that in typical Girli fashion has more going on underneath the glossy production than meets the eye (or ear in this case.) The song is about a neighbor who complains about Girli always partying and staying up late and it ruins his sleep schedule:
"So tell me one more time
That I've been trashing your bedtime
I hear you knock, knock, knock
On the door and you let me know
Pipe down, it'll have to go."
Girli tries to appeal to his lost sense of youth by telling him:
"Don't you remember the nights in December
The booze and the mates and the fenders
Of the band you thought was sick
Don't you remember the way that girl looked at you
While you held her hair while she puked in the loo
And still kissed her anyway."
"Baby don't tell me you're too old
To have a little bit of fun sometimes
Slow down and dance awhile
Mister 10 PM bedtime
Baby don't tell me you don't get why
I need my friends and a bottle and a guy
Forget the day, I love the night
Mister 10 PM bedtime"
Now to tell you the truth as someone in their 30s I definitely need my 7 to 8 hours of sleep especially because of my concussion so part of me sympathizes with Mr 10 PM Bedtime. Yet, the song is not really about fighting for your right to party as much as it's about recapturing what it felt like to be young and how you had less constraints back then. Being adult is hard and sometimes it's OK to want to let loose every once in a while and reconnect with your younger self again.
6. Can I Say Baby
Can I Say Baby sees Girli infatuated with someone but is too scared to admit it to them or herself. She is afraid that their friends won't approve either:
"I'm scared to like you, I'm scared to care
I'm scared because I don't think we're going anywhere
I'm scared to laugh at your jokes, scared to say you're cool
I'm scared that if I tell my friends
About you I'll look like a fucking fool."
Later Girli sings more about how she is afraid to admit her true emotions to her new fling:
"I don't wanna be sloppy
But I think you're great
Wanna call you babe
Hope you feel the same
It makes me laugh that you think I'm sweet
It makes me laugh cause you hardly know me
It makes me cringe that I might like you more than you do
It makes me cringe that I'm writing this song about you."
It's clear Girli is afraid of being emotionally vulnerable with someone, probably because of how badly she's been burned before. Nonetheless there is a giddiness to the song as well that is very endearing too:
"I don't wanna be sloppy
But I like your style
Think you're kinda cool
I'm sorta into you
What does that make me?
I don't wanna be sloppy
But I think you're great
Wanna call you babe
Hope you feel the same
We argue, we fight
We only do it cause it's kind of nice
We french kiss, we bitch
But it's all gonna be alright
We say mean things
I snub your friends
We're bad for each other
But it'll all work out in the end
But it'll all work out in the end."
It's not clear whether this relationship will work out in the long run but for now both parties seem to be having fun and for now that's enough.
5. Neck Contour
On this song Girli deals with her conflicted emotions over a guy she wishes would like her back while also grappling with all the contradicting labels that are thrown at women all the time:
"Want to be the one that calls the boys over
Want to be the bitch, the heartbreaker
Want to be the chick who rocks a bodycon
Be the bond spy who holds the gun
Want to be your diamond girl, your number one
The one you hang with, the most fun
I want to be like a modern day Debbie fucking Harry
I want to be someone's love
I want to be someone's other half
I want to be the slut, the hoe, the tart
I want to be the one you say to "Don't start"
I want to have grace and I want to have flare
I want to be that girl who's never scared
I want to have skinny hips and perfect hair
Want to be the chick who doesn't care."
Girli wants to be everything but of course it's almost impossible to fulfill all those roles in a society run by the Patriarchy. Once again, Girli tackles the idea here that trying to live up to society's standards can be mentally exhausting and draining. Girli knows that she should know better but sometimes it's hard to remember that:
"One day I'll be talking on TED
About how my youth is dead
And I hated myself, I should've loved me instead."
Self love is so important but so easy to lose sight of in a world where you are trying to constantly live up to others expectations. The song itself though is again catchy as all get out. I pretty much glossed over most of the lyrics the first several times hearing it because the song was so catchy I didn't notice at first.
4. Girls Get Angry Too
Girls Get Angry Too is one of my favorite Girli songs because this is where she really goes off about Toxic Masculinity and how society's attitude towards women can be demeaning and cruel. I could honestly quote most of the song because on every single lyric Girli is on point!
"Girls get naughty, boys tell 'em behave
Hypermasculinity, drowning the vicinity
Weakness is just another word for femininity
But I'm just a raving feminist
Burn the bras, don't shave your pits
Don't listen to me, I'm f**kin' crazy
I don't wanna have babies, don't need a man to save me
Is that a problem, love?"
If I had to pick out my favorite lyrics from this song though it would be where Girli attacks how gender roles are forced upon children right from the start:
"What's a girl, what's a boy?
Why are there gender sections for toys?
And sorry if I'm out of line
But I don't want Hamleys to decide
If my kid's a fireman or a bride"
YEAH! Why are there gender sections for toys dammit?!?! I can tell you right now that as a kid I wanted stuff from the girls aisle, but I was looked down upon for doing that. So I would get action figures from the boy's sections and if there was ever a girl action figure I always got it! Every time I hear this part of the song I remember what it was like to be a kid and want things that I was denied because I kept being told as a child that boys should not want to play with girly toys.
3. Day Month Second
Girli was always good, but the songs on her full length debut album in 2019 showed how far Girli had come as an artist. The songs are tighter, catchier and even tougher than they were before. This was one of the first Girli songs to really catch my ear after hearing Deal With It. Day Month Second is about a cheating ex who loves to play the victim:
"So you think you can hurt me?
So you think you can cry?
Was it worth all the cheating?
Was it worth all the lies?
Now you think you can message me
Like everything's alright
The funny thing is that you fucked up
But you act all victimised
God knows you hurt me
God knows you hurt me
But it helped me realize
That you're like every other guy."
The mix of the production, lyrics and Girli's unique delivery all combine to make this another top notch Girli Bop!
2. Hot Mess
In this song Girli points out that people think she is a hot mess for acting the way she does, but if she were a man nobody would bat an eye. Once again Girli is addressing the restrictive gender roles women are forced to play and how in a patriarchal society men's "advice" should always be taken even when they are criticizing you:
"Don't you think she'd look a little bit nicer if she combed her hair every once in a while, aha
Look at those jeans, so messy, jeez
You know what, her natural hair colour would look so much better on her with her bone structure
She probably doesn't even write her own songs, hahahaha...
Open up my mouth and rap some fiction, poems, prose
But all that you can focus on is my makeup and clothes
I don't have perfect skin, I don't live in fairytale land (La la la)
Stop telling me to grow some balls, I'm happy as a woman."
On top of the criticism, women also get judged on their looks, attitude and presentation way more than men do, which is hypocrisy at its wors,t but it's so ingrained within our culture that we all just accept it even though we shouldn't. Hot Mess is a great feminist anthem for the Instagram age and sees Girli at her most biting, which is when she is at her best!
1. Deal With It
Deal With It is arguably the best straight ahead pop song Girli has ever done. The opening synth line is one of the most infectious beats I've ever heard in pop music and once you hear that beat the song has you in its thrall completely. Whenever I introduce Girli's music to my friends I start with this song first, because it's easily her most accessible. As stated earlier my husband loves this song and he only likes bops so that means Deal With It is a bop of the highest order. Lyrically this fits Girli's message and tone though it's bit scaled back from a lot of her other songs. I can't help but feel that this song was her bid to get a song on the charts and in all honesty I'm not sure why it didn't. My only explanation for why it under performed is the fact that most mainstream music outlets (radio and TV) are pretty much garbage at this point and they rarely deviate from a set sound and style at this juncture. Nonetheless this was one of my most played songs in 2019 and if you take a listen it could become one of your most played songs in 2020!
