The Sisterhood of the Sad Pants
Last week, the songwriter Lucy Dacus tweeted that although she often gets labelled “sad girl indie,” she doesn’t think her songs are sad. That got me thinking about how so many of the “sad” songs I love that are written by women are actually something else--defiant, eviscerating, self aware or blazingly triumphant. So I made a playlist of some of my favorites and kicked the belittling label of “sad girl indie” in the nuts a little by titling the playlist “So Pretty When You Cry”. It's a varied and cathartic collection--there’s the Liz Phair song that forever changed how I experience plane travel and the Metric song whose last line makes me question everything I thought I know about love. The Phoebe Bridgers song that manages to tackle fake orgasms, childish longing and utter contempt in the first 30 seconds, and the Jenny Lewis song that invokes interstellar travel, drugs, and southern gospel all in one deft masterpiece. And I included two songs from our new Corvair record--one is a three act play with an unreliable narrator, the other is about an ugly fight that changed the course of (my) history. Anyway, I hope you love the playlist and that it makes you listen a little harder to what these women are trying to say beyond their supposed “sad” songs. Lesley Gore can go ahead and cry at her party, but I’ll be out back with the smudged mascara girls, roasting our exes and burnishing the patina on our savage little hearts.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4UbZGjtVNljjKt0qdWiAFO?si=tkUKnQWYQFWLPzkFxAN5gQ
-Heather
TRACK LISTING:
Courtney Barnett - Depreston / Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness / Corvair - Focus Puller / Julien Baker - Faith Healer / Metric - Calculation Theme / Cat Power - Metal Heart / Jenny Lewis - Voyager / Liz Phair - Stratford on Guy / Angel Olsen - Whole New Mess / Anya Marina - Pretty Vacant / The Pacific Ocean - Waterflower / Lana Del Rey - Pretty When You Cry / Alvvays - Archie, Marry Me / Juliana Hatfield - My Sister / The Blow - Hey Boy / Allo Darlin - Tallulah / Sharon van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up / Lucy Dacus - Night Shift / Arlo Parks - Black Dog / Spinanes - Sunday / Edith Frost - Tender Kiss / Francoise Hardy - Les Temps De L’amour / Mary Timony - Poison Moon / Corvair - Daily Double / Sir Chloe - Michelle / Mitski - Me and My Husband / Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps