Ok, ok, I know this isn’t all about me… I know I’m not the target demographic. I appreciate that language evolves. My daughter, who’s thirteen, frequently uses lingo that borders on the nonsensical – usually to deride her hapless, out-of-touch Gen X father about his ‘riz’ or somesuch. But I do have a BA, MA, and PhD in English, and spend a lot of time reading press releases and writing about music from across the board.
But I’m perplexed, and even my daughter couldn’t explain the context of ‘Clash’ referring to ‘Girl Violence’ as ‘a testament to her multi-hyphenate status’, or ‘DIY’ bowing down and proclaiming King Princess the ‘multi-hyphenate star...god save the king!’
King Princess is Brooklyn-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and actor Mikaela Straus, and the pitch is that ‘Cry Cry Cry’ is King Princess at her most scathing and electrified. It’s a cathartic blast of guitar-driven vengeance, taking aim at fake friends, queer-baiters, and anyone who ever made her feel small. “‘Cry Cry Cry’ is about a friendship with a lady that did not work out,” she says.
‘You’re gonna cry cry cry when you hear this’, she sings. And she’s almost right. I was close to tears when faced with the drab, insipid ordinariness of this feeble Avril Lavigne rip-off. If this is what counts as catharsis… I wouldn’t wish pain or suffering on anyone, but this oozes teenage angst in the way ‘Dawson’s Creek’ was emotionally heavy if you were fourteen at the time, before real shit happens. Context counts, and as I say, I know I’m not the target demographic, but meh. All the hype and all the hyphens have no way of making this anything special.
