First formed in 2018 after aiming to record just one song, but walking out of the studio instead with six, the band Boygenius has taken the indie music world by storm.
Their first full album, “the record,” was released in March 2023, and has since topped indie music charts in both the United States and United Kingdom. The trio includes musicians Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers, who are individually popular in the genre, but together are producers of terrific pieces of art.
In an interview with Vogue, the three stars opened up about how the band was formed and admitted that it was a complete accident. For years, they had been fans of each other’s work, streaming each other’s music and voicing their praises. Seeing that their individual records were all being labeled as “indie” or “indie rock,” these women were constantly compared to each other, so when the three of them finally met, that was one of the things they could all relate to each other about.
Reportedly, they started to open for each other on their individual tours, but during the summer of 2017, the three of them finally decided to sit down and write a song. As mentioned previously, they ended up walking away with six, which became their first EP appropriately titled “boygenius.”
The name Boygenius stems from men in the entertainment industry being told that they should be loud and heard and, as a band made up of women, the three decided to play off of that sentiment. Bridgers stated to Vogue, “Men are taught to be entitled to space and that their ideas should be heard because they’re great ideas and women are taught the opposite. That they should listen instead of speak and all that stuff. So, a ‘boygenius’ is someone who their whole life has been told that their ideas are genius.” Their fans have played into this as well, referring to the three of them as ‘the boys.’”
After their EP became a hit, the group got to work on their fully fleshed 12 track album, “the record.” After they announced the release date of the collection, they subsequently announced an international tour where they opened Coachella weekend in April 2023. Bridgers, who was also an opening act for a leg of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” around the same time, brought out “the boys” for a few of those shows. They finished their tour on Halloween at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA and were tastefully dressed as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; all three utilized their religious pasts as inspiration for their music, as evident in many of their songs, so the costumes were more than well-received by fans.
The true genius behind this group is very simple: the trio are true fans of each other’s work as well as true friends in general. Baker has stated how she struggles with her own queerness along with mental health issues, including depression and anxiety. Before the band had even formed, both Bridgers and Dacus released songs dedicated to Baker and her struggles, urging her to believe that she is not alone and can get through anything. Dacus’s track is titled “Home Video,” and Bridgers’ “Graceland Too.”
This is only one example of the true adoration and love these women have for each other, as well as their deep love and respect for music. This has allowed them to not only be individually successful, but to find success as a trio. It attests to the fact that a person’s true intentions will always shine through, as well as their true character.
