8. girli’s new EP ‘why am i like this??’ and Scala London show review
London based pop artist girli released her new EP ‘why am i like this??’ last week and has been booked and busy on tour, concluding in London at Scala. here is the review of that.
‘why am i like this??’ is girli’s fifth EP, released Friday 12th May. She has come a long way since her first EP, ‘Feel OK’, released in 2017. Harbouring a more refined and mature sound, this EP feels authentically girli.
A common runout method in the music industry as of late is releasing many singles before the album/EP, which I’m not a huge fan of, because it makes it less of a surprise to hear the whole project cohesively. The EP announcement came relatively late, so I had actually already heard all four tracks - three of them being singles, and the other track was played live on tour. However, it didn’t make me love the EP itself any less, in fact I’m listening to it on repeat all day, so maybe this rollout method is good for the age of streaming after all.
The first track, ‘I Really F**ked It Up’, is the bold and brave lead single. I feel as though every song girli she has ever released has led up to this. The first lyric is the EP title, “why am I like this??”, setting the scene for the whole EP, reflecting on themes of self-hatred and self-doubt. It has made its way into my top 5 of girli’s discography and my BPD baddie anthems Spotify playlist (lol). It’s powerful and reflects on the pain of fucking something up and hurting someone you love.
‘Inner Child’ is the second track, a song that was played live on tour before it was released. Upon seeing its name on the setlist I thought it would be a Rina Sawayama-esque Hold the Girl type song, healing your inner child, but it’s actually not at all. girli talks about a relationship failing because her partner won’t go to therapy and heal their inner child. I really love this song - I find girli still writes about the same themes as she always has, mental health and relationships, but in a more mature way. The lyrics and the song structure are really clever and definitely a stand out moment on the EP. The take away from this song is GO TO THERAPY.
The third track is entitled ‘Imposter Syndrome’, a favourite of mine and a song which I featured in the music video for, so it has a special place in my heart. The windchimes which open the song set an almost eerie and sinister tone, representing the insecurity of being in the music industry but you feel as though you don’t really belong. “Might be an imposter, maybe I'm a poser,
What if I'm a fake?” reflects how I think a lot of young people feel, regardless of their life path, because we face so much insecurity and uncertainty about our futures. We don’t have the confidence we should have, especially in creative fields.
The closing track “Cheap Love” turns away from the tone of the EP previously, and is more optimistic and upbeat. girli speaks about being young, broke and in a relationship, but it doesn’t matter because you have each other - “No bills, just thrills, I love cheap love.” Money doesn’t matter if you have someone with you - you’ll find a way to have a good time. It’s my least favourite track off the EP, but I think it’s just less relatable for me. It’s a fun song to have a dance to and sing to yourself in your bedroom mirror.
While Cheap Love feels slightly misplaced on an otherwise cohesive EP, it’s a strong piece of work which will firmly contribute to girli’s growing legacy.
Rating: 4.5/5
In support of the EP, girli embarked on a US, Europe and UK tour, ending in London at Scala. This was my 14th time seeing girli live and undoubtably her best performance yet. I, of course, managed to get the setlist from the stage, as is tradition.
Bursting onto the stage with her backup vocalist FABER, drummer Sara, and two dancers, Summer Jay Jones and Emily Haygarth, the opener is “Has Been”. The first song being about girli getting dropped from her record label in 2019 and getting back on her feat to a packed out Scala with two dancers on stage with her is a big fuck you to the major labels and how they treat artists.
The second song is one of my favourites in girli’s discography, “I Don’t Like Myself”. A quintessential girli track, shouting about everything you don’t like about yourself actually does help you feel better about yourself. It’s very theraputic and cathartic.
“Not That Girl” is always a powerful moment at girli shows, exclaiming how dressing differently and outside of the norm makes you a badass bitch and doesn’t mean it’s an invite for creepy men to chat you up. With a crowd full of young, queer people in extravagant and carefully pieced together over the top outfits (which is a compliment btw), it always results in the crowd screaming the lyrics back, clearly meaning a lot to them.
This show was my first time hearing “Imposter Syndrome” live, and it was super special because the last time I heard it with girli we were filming the music video. It’s also a new favourite girli song for me, so getting to shout the all too relatable lyrics was a lot of fun. It’s clear that the stage is a comfortable place for girli, dancing around, being totally herself, and it’s a joy to watch.
Another sweet crowd-interactive song is “Girl I Met On The Internet”, one of the first songs girli released, about having a crush on a girl. The crowd always goes crazy for this song, especially during the chorus, where girli asks the crowd to join her in waving their hands from side to side. It’s a wholesome moment that always makes me reflect on how far girli has come since the first time I saw her in a 300 capacity venue in 2017.
The incredible dancers returned to the stage for another fan favourite ‘Hot Mess’, and the four on stage did some choreo involving microphones. It mirrored the lyrics of the song, women in the industry reclaiming their power back, ending with their middle fingers up during the lyric “I’m as messy as a boy and I don’t give a fuck”. After hearing this song many a time, it was fun to experience it differently.
‘Inner Child’ was unreleased at the time of the show, and I always think it must be a daunting experience, your fans hearing a new song for the first time and getting a first hand reaction to it. Because it was unreleased, nobody knew the words, so girli taught us a line of the chorus - “Man he’s really having a breakdown” (not Manny, not mummy, as a few people, myself included, thought she was saying) - to sing along to get the crowd engaged. It worked really well and was cool to get people singing along to a song they were hearing for the first time.
‘Letter To My Ex’ is another favourite girli song of mine (yes, despite never having been through a breakup - it just slaps) and it’s a great choice for the last song of the show before the encore. girli attempted to crowd surf, which didn’t go overly well - maybe people just weren’t strong enough cause we’re all small and baby - but it was still fun to watch. That’s something I do miss about earlier girli shows - more crowdsurfing, more moshpits.
After the crowd had been chanting her name for a good couple of minutes, girli returned to the stage to perform two more tracks, the first being ‘I Really F**cked It Up’, which got the crowd excited again. They truly knew every single word and screamed it right back at girli, and it is so joyous to see.
To end the show, girli performed ‘More Than A Friend’, a song which has gathered over 46 million streams on Spotify and has been hailed as a gay anthem. It was actually Lesbian Visibility Day the day of the show, and gave my lesbian flag to girli to wave on stage (she is bisexual, but any pride flag is obviously cool to have on stage).
girli is at her most powerful and well rounded right now and this was the best show I have ever seen her play. Something tells me show number 14 won’t be the last for me.
Rating: 5/5
girli’s new EP “why am i like this??” is out now.
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