We are still going back to great tracks released during 2022. It’s inevitable as some can’t stay forgotten by us. “I Want To Be There” is part of girlpuppy album “When I’m Alone” released last year and a gorgeous combination of folk, pop and alternative rock that feels both kind and candy.
Working with Marshall Vore (who is known for his work with Phoebe Bridgers) girlpuppy had already gained some traction with the release of her debut EP which granted her features on great outlets such as NPR, Fader or Under the Radar. But sometimes the shoes are too big to feel, even if they are your own shoes, and one of the greatest feelings a music fan can feel is the idea of tranquillity with one’s music. That’s what you will all find in girlpuppy latest album. And that’s what you’ll definitely find in one of its gems, the tender “I Want To Be There“.
The track which features a very clean video with a perfect calming setting for the lyrical sense of the track, and talks about the sense of loss and displacement, working is an antagonist balsam, as everything about it transmits tranquillity and a sense of placement. Probably most of those feelings come from her vocal tone, with other bits coming from the acoustic guitar that has something to do with a Summer breeze.
She says: “I wrote ‘I Want To Be There‘ about the pain I felt when my old landlord kicked me and three of my best friends out of our dream home, and all three of my roommates moved to New York. I was left all alone in Atlanta and it was a really bad time for me. I was jobless and I felt like I had no friends which made me wonder what was wrong with me, which kind of made me spiral into self-hatred. I like to call this one the “self-hate anthem” of the album.”
After this, we can only say, if self-hate always sounded like this, the world would definitely be a very easy place to live in. That said, it’s impossible not to love how much of a remedy for the soul this actually sounds. Even if is was written with some hard thoughts.
About girlpuppy
It seems like a contradiction coming from Becca Harvey, a singer and songwriter whose lyrics’ undisguised sentimentality and witty self-effacement have garnered quick acclaim for her project girlpuppy. But on “Permanent State” the closing track of her debut full-length “When I’m Alone“, Harvey sings: “I hate writing songs”.
Since the Atlanta-based project’s debut in 2020, Harvey’s applied her emotional and vocal versatility to whatever genre she sees most fit for girlpuppy to explore. First came the lo-fi guitar, then a collaboration with producer Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers, Ada Lea). Harvey has deep gratitude for her career recording and touring—including with some of her favourite artists, The Districts and Matt Maltese. But for her, it’s not always light work parsing through the feelings that lead to heavy-hitting songwriting.
girlpuppy’s songwriting has markedly evolved to focus less on the external and more on what’s inside. “I’m used to writing about other people, and including details about other people’s lives,” explains Harvey of her previous releases. “With “When I’m Alone“, the theme really is my internal battles with things I’ve done, rather than reflecting and blaming everyone else”.
More about girlpuppy:
Twitter – Spotify – YouTube – Instagram