Boygenius | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active |
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| Labels | |
| Members | |
| Website | xboygeniusx |
Boygenius is an Americanindie rocksupergroup[1][2][3][4] consisting of American singer-songwritersJulien Baker,Phoebe Bridgers, andLucy Dacus.[5][6] They debuted with theirself-titled EP in 2018,[7][8][9] and then returned after a hiatus with their debut studio album,The Record (2023), which was both a critical and commercial success, winning the members threeGrammy Awards and oneBrit Award. Labeled an "instant classic" byNME,[10] it topped the charts in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, and peaked at number four on theU.S.Billboard 200. Their second EP,The Rest, was released on October 13, 2023.[11] The group is currently on hiatus.[12]
Bridgers called the formation of the group "kind of an accident," wherein each of the members were simply fans of each other's work and then became friends.[4] Both Dacus and Bridgers had opened for Baker on separate tours in 2016, and they all ran in similar circles as young up-and-coming performers navigating theindie scene.[13][14]
The three became close and shared frustrations of constantly being compared to each other as "women in rock" despite their considerably different musical styles.[15] Dacus has commented that the idea of women in music "should not be remarkable whatsoever," with Bridgers adding, "it's not a genre."[15] Each has spoken on the tendency of the music industry to pit women against each other, and the group was formed in part to reject this.[4][15] "I hope people see the three of us and know there isn't competition," Dacus has said. "You don't have to compete with your contemporaries. You can make something good with people you admire."[16]
Baker had joked to Dacus years before about a "pipe dream" that they could one day all form a band.[17] The three decided to book aco-headlining tour in early 2018, and they originally planned to record a single or cover so that they could perform something together on stage.[4] Upon meeting up that summer, they found themselves overwhelmed with ideas, and they ended up forming the band, writing, recording, and self-producing theBoygeniusEP in four days, with the process involving almost exclusively women.[16][18]
Each brought one full song and one incomplete idea with them to the group.[19] They sought to create an environment free of the competitiveness and "bravado" they had often encountered in previous experiences, and they have remarked that the absence of men in the process proved significant, allowing them to relate to each other openly without constantly having to explain themselves.[4][18] The record was met with universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike; it was named the 12th best album of 2018 byNPR Music, despite being only anEP.[20] Their subsequenttour that November saw them performing all across the U.S., as well as onLate Night with Seth Meyers and theTiny Desk.[17][21][22]
The group was slated to perform in summer 2019 atWoodstock 50, before its cancellation due to a series of production issues.[23][24] In 2020, they were featured onHayley Williams' "Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris" from her EPPetals for Armor II, and also reunited on backing vocals for numerous songs from each other's solo projects: "Graceland Too" and "I Know the End" from Bridgers'Grammy-nominatedPunisher, Baker'sLittle Oblivions single "Favor", and Dacus's "Please Stay" and "Going Going Gone" onHome Video.[25] With the releases scattered throughout the year, all of these were actually recorded on the same day, a process Dacus said "had the same atmosphere as when we recorded theboygenius EP[...] a natural result of being together, easy as can be."[25]
In July 2020, the trio released a handful ofdemos from theirBoygenius recording sessions onBandcamp to raise money for charitable organizations in their respective hometowns, raising over $23,000 for the Downtown Women's Center of Los Angeles, OUTMemphis, and Mutual Aid Distribution Richmond.[26][27] After reuniting on stage for occasional surprise appearances at one another's solo tours throughout 2021, the group performed their first full show together since 2018 as the headliner ofBread and Roses Presents' annual benefit concert in San Francisco on November 19, 2021.[28]
In January 2022, Boygenius recorded their debut studio album,The Record, at Shangri-La in Malibu, California.[1] In January 2023, the band announced the album, with a release date of March 31, 2023. The album artwork and three singles from the album, "$20," "Emily I'm Sorry," and "True Blue" were released alongside the album's initial announcement.[29] The three videos from the singles were all directed byKristen Stewart, and were combined into a single promotional short film calledThe Film.[30] On January 31, 2023, AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) Presents announced that the band would be one of three headline acts at the inauguralRe:SET Concert Series.[31] In April 2023, the group played at the Coachella Music Festival.[32]
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The band then embarked on an international tour, dubbedThe Tour. The tour dates started as early as April 12, and ending on August 27 featuring special guestsCarly Rae Jepsen,Bartees Strange,Claud,Broken Social Scene andIlluminati Hotties.[33] The band then later announced an additional 5 tour dates in the fall of 2023. These dates were joined with special guestsPalehound,Samia, andMuna.[34] When asked if this tour was the greatest tour the bandmembers have ever been on, Bridgers replied "Yeah... yeah 100 percent" immediately, stating the band only had one bad day on tour.[35]
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On September 20, 2023, a music video was released for their song "Cool About It" directed byLauren Tsai.[36] On October 13, the band released their second EPThe Rest, which includes four new songs.[37] On November 11, 2023, the band was the musical guest onSaturday Night Live, performing two songs and appearing in a sketch withTimothée Chalamet.[38] On November 17, 2023, the band collaborated withYe Vagabonds to release a cover of "The Parting Glass", paying tribute to the lateSinéad O'Connor, an Irish singer and activist. All proceeds were donated to the Aisling Project, Sinéad O’Connor Estate's charity of choice.[39] The group received seven nominations at the66th Annual Grammy Awards, includingAlbum of the Year andRecord of the Year, ultimately winning three, includingBest Alternative Music Album.[40]
On February 2, 2024, the band announced an indefinite hiatus during a secret show in Los Angeles.[41] They said the hiatus would last for the foreseeable future. Before the final song of their set, Dacus said "this is the last song" and Baker added "not ever".[42] On the red carpet of the Grammys, the band was asked what this meant for their future, with Dacus stating that she is "not convinced" followed by Baker adding, "How do you know a meteor is not going to crash into earth tomorrow?"[43]
The group has been vocal about the origins of their name, which began as a joke and a way to encourage each other in the studio.[18] All three had shared negative experiences with overconfident male collaborators—as Baker put it, "the archetype of the tortured genius, [a] specifically male artist who has been told since birth that their every thought is not only worthwhile but brilliant."[19] Dacus described the "boy genius" trope as "boys and men we know who've been told that they are geniuses since they could hear, basically," and has detailed how they attempted to channel that energy while making the EP. "If one person was having a thought—'I don't know if this is good, it's probably terrible'—it was like, 'No! Be the boy genius! Your every thought is worthwhile, just spit it out.'"[18]
The group occasionally writes their name as "xboygeniusx", such as on social media and their website.[44][45] This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to theX symbol of thestraight-edge punk subculture, which Baker was somewhat involved in as a teen. She noted that they had all joked about boygenius being ahardcore band, and when creating their social media they thought it would be funny to stylize themselves as extremely punk when it wasn't characteristic of any of their music at the time.[46]
The band shared aSpotify playlist paying tribute to an assortment of artists that influenced the music onThe Record, which included bands and singer-songwriters such asHop Along,Waxahatchee,Mineral,Fugazi,Joyce Manor,Nada Surf,Wilco,Iron and Wine,Wednesday,Broken Social Scene andBrian Eno.[47]
| Boygenius discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | 1 |
| EPs | 2 |
| Singles | 6 |
| Music videos | 5 |
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [48] | AUS [49] | CAN [50] | GER [51] | IRE [52] | NLD [53] | NZ [54] | SWE [55] | SWI [56] | UK [57] | |||
| The Record |
| 4 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 36 | 22 | 1 | |
| Title | EP details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [48] | US Alt. [60] | US Folk [61] | US Indie [62] | US Rock [63] | GER [51] | NLD Vinyl [64] | SCO [65] | UK Sales [66] | UK Indie [67] | ||||||
| Boygenius |
| —[B] | 24 | — | 9 | — | — | 10 | 26 | 85 | 10 | ||||
| The Rest |
| 50 | 6 | 4 | — | 8 | 67 | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | |||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US AAA [69] | US Alt [70] | US Rock [71] | IRE [72] | JPN Over. [73] | NZ Hot [74] | |||||||||
| "$20" | 2023 | 30 | — | 44 | — | — | — | The Record | ||||||
| "Emily I'm Sorry" | — | 25 | 44 | — | — | 31 | ||||||||
| "True Blue" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Not Strong Enough" | 1 | 20 | 26 | 78 | 9 | — |
| |||||||
| "Cool About It"[75] | 2 | —[C] | 34 | 97 | – | 21 |
| |||||||
| "The Parting Glass" (withYe Vagabonds) | — | —[D] | — | 44 | — | — | Non-album single | |||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NZ Hot [74] | UK [57] | |||||||||||||
| "Without You Without Them" | 2023 | 39 | — | The Record | ||||||||||
| "Revolution 0" | 40 | — | ||||||||||||
| "Letter to an Old Poet" | 35 | — | ||||||||||||
| "Black Hole" | 18 | 56 | The Rest | |||||||||||
| "Afraid of Heights" | 25 | — | ||||||||||||
| "Voyager" | 28 | — | ||||||||||||
| "Powers" | 34 | — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| "Not Strong Enough" | 2023 | Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus |
| "Emily I'm Sorry"(fromThe Film) | Kristen Stewart | |
| "$20"(fromThe Film) | ||
| "True Blue"(fromThe Film) | ||
| "Cool About It" | Lauren Tsai |
| Year | Association | Nominated Work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Grammy Awards | The Record | Album of the Year | Nominated | |
| Best Alternative Music Album | Won | ||||
| Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical | Nominated | ||||
| "Not Strong Enough" | Record of the Year | Nominated | |||
| Best Rock Song | Won | ||||
| Best Rock Performance | Won | ||||
| "Cool About It" | Best Alternative Music Performance | Nominated | |||
| Brit Awards | boygenius | International Group | Won | [80] | |
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | The Record | Alternative Album of the Year | Won | [81] |
Well, the wait is over:The indie supergroup — consisting of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus — will finally release a full-length debut, titled The Record, slated for March 31 via Interscope!
The supergroup announces its long-awaited return with a three-song sampler.
When the band was announced earlier this summer, Boygenius (styled "boygenius") instantly became the Infinity War of female-led indie-rock outfits: Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers, having been lassoed into the same Spotify playlists and genre profiles for the past few years anyway, decided to combine their efforts into one supergroup.
