If you scroll through the comment sections of girli’s recent social media posts, expect to see excited anticipation for new music, sweetly supportive interactions and, unfortunately, some pretty nasty opinions. “Oh yay toxic femininity!” writes one male user, while another simply states, “Get a life,” on posts girli made condemning sexual violence and misogynistic behaviors.
Though this hatred continues to be openly spewed behind the protection of a phone screen, nothing can stop the London alt-pop provocateur; instead, she decided to flip the script with her third studio album, it’s just my opinion.
With her signature pink hair and fearless attitude, the new album bravely turns its attention to the world’s current political climate through girli’s own lived experiences as a queer female activist. through its 12 tracks, it’s just my opinion opens the door for these uncomfortably necessary conversations to be had while providing solace and solidarity to those with similar scars.
Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, and girli unapologetically shares hers loud and proud across each rage-filled, honest track.
Ahead of it’s just my opinion’s release, girli sat down with Crave to discuss the meaning behind the album’s message, importance of using her platform to spread awareness on political and social issues, and more.
CRAVE: Your third album. it’s just my opinion, will be released on May 8. Congratulations! What emotions are you feeling as you get ready to share this project with the world?
GIRLI: The way I’m feeling about sharing the album is intense fear, which is really interesting because I think I’ve been so stoked to put it out there. I’ve been sharing with my fans the process of making it the whole of last year, but it’s funny. I think as an artist when it comes to releasing something that has been in progress for so long, it feels absolutely terrifying for a second. Then it’s out there and you’re like, cool, it’s out. Amazing people can enjoy it how they want to.
Obviously I’m feeling a lot of excitement and I know that my fans are the sweetest and they’re gonna be really receptive to it. I feel some weird fear about it, but I feel like that’s normal. It’s like I’m about to give birth, you know?
CRAVE: Where did the inspiration for the album’s title come from and how does that tie into some themes found on it?
GIRLI: With this album release, and I guess my whole career really being quite [an] outspoken political queer woman making music, a lot of my stuff that I share is to do with activism. I like talking about that in my songs, but I talk about that anyway online.
One of the songs in this album campaign, “Slap On The Wrist,” is a feminist activism song calling out perpetrators of sexual violence. I was really finding when I was releasing this song that the amount of hatred that I was every day experiencing online from, obviously not from my fans, but from misogynistic, homophobic, nasty people.
I realized, wow, this has really been a theme throughout just being a woman in the public eye who refuses to conform and is outspoken. It took me so long to decide what to call the album, and I didn’t decide until literally the last minute deadline that my label gave me. I realized when people have polarizing and often nasty opinions, they’ll use the phrase, “it’s just my opinion.”
That’s almost a way to excuse some hatred, basically. I thought, Well, okay, if that’s just your opinion, this is just my opinion. Opinion and our voices are so powerful and it’s not just anything. I thought it was fun turning that on its head and being like, Cool, well these are just my queer feminist songs so maybe don’t get so angry then?
Especially with putting out music that is about feminist issues, the amount of men in my comments being like, “Why are you so worked up? Why are you so angry?” And it’s like, why are you so worked up? How does [my freedom] impact you as the privileged person? So, I wanted to turn that on its head.
via girli on instagram
CRAVE: I love the way that you broke that down. It actually gave me the perfect little segue into the next questions because I did want to take a second to talk about “Slap On The Wrist.” This song bravely calls out society’s unforgiving attitude towards survivors of abuse, assault, and harassment and condemns the lack of accountability for this behavior. What was your breaking point to write a song about this? How does it feel to be able to bring light to this topic and use your platform as a female artist?
GIRLI: I’ve been releasing music for 10 years and I’ve always been very outspoken on feminist issues. Even before I was making music, when I was in high school, I would call myself a feminist. I was always campaigning for different issues and going to protests. I think when I was in the studio writing “Slap On The Wrist,” I was like, I can’t believe I haven’t written a song about this yet.
I feel like sometimes with something like that, you can’t force it. It will just come when it comes. I felt the feminine rage that day and it felt really amazing to fully put my feelings about that topic into words and into music. It’s been really beautiful to be able to share it and have so many people reach out and be like, this song is really meaningful and really speaks to me.
Obviously it’s a double-edged sword because it’s so upsetting that so many people relate to it because it’s about something so traumatizing. It means a lot to me that hopefully people can find solace and solidarity in listening to a song that reminds them of their own stories.
It’s also been very rage-baity apparently for a lot of people online as well, which is insane to me because it’s not a controversial topic. I’m literally just saying can we please treat sexual assault as a serious thing? Let’s review: Why are we angry about this?
CRAVE: Thank you for using your platform to speak about issues like that. About the music video that comes with it, because that is another important part of the song, you highlight people’s real experiences and use a diverse cast of female and trans actors. You also partnered with a UK based female advocacy group, Cheer Up Luv. How did you come up with the concept for the video and did you expect it to have the impact that it’s had so far?
GIRLI: The concept was actually inspired by this photo series I saw on Cheer Up Luv’s platform. The person who runs Cheer Up Luv, Eliza, is a photographer and she’d done this amazing series a few years ago where she was photographing survivors in places where they’d been harassed or assaulted. I get goosebumps every time I talk about it because I think that photo series really had such an impact on me.
It just felt so powerful and poignant. The bravery of these survivors to go back to places that were so traumatizing for them, but also the importance of that series in highlighting that assault happens in really everyday spaces. That actually for women and gender minorities, this is an everyday threat and fear.
I saw that series and when I wrote this song, I was like this would be incredible as a video concept so I reached out to Cheer Up Luv and was like I would love to collaborate with you. It was a real shot in the dark. I really didn’t have [any] idea if Eliza would be down for it, but she was so enthusiastic and ended up co-directing the video with my creative director, Sarah Tucker. It was mostly a female crew and a real diverse cast of actors and I was just so happy about that.
When it came out, people really resonated and felt seen. All of the comments, I mean, it’s incredible how many people are so willing to share their stories when they see art that makes them feel seen. The amount of stories in the comments [and] in my DMs of people saying, this is my experience and this video really speaks to me feels amazing.
CRAVE: Do you think that the creative process for this record differed from your first two releases, Matriarchy and Odd One Out, in any ways?
GIRLI: I think this was the first album where before I’d written any of the songs, I was setting out to write an album. It was very intentional. In those past two albums, I’d be touring or I’d be doing other promo and stuff, and then I’d just write songs here and there and be like, oh, I’ve written quite a lot of songs. I guess it’s an album. This time I set out to write an album and I went into the studio in blocks of time to really focus on that and allowed myself a whole year of hardly any touring and just focusing on writing. It felt really amazing.
If you are a band and you have musicians and you’re a group, it’s slightly more of okay, cool, we’re gonna tour now and then we’re gonna go into the studio and write and then we’re gonna talk. There’s a bit more structure. I think when you’re a solo pop artist, a lot of the time you squeeze in songwriting where you can and it’s a lot less concentrated. Sometimes it’s really good to be able to have a block of time to be creative so that felt really good.
CRAVE: What song are you most excited for people to hear and why?
GIRLI: Oh my gosh, so many! When I think about people hearing all the different songs, I’m like, ah! There’s a song called “Lifestyle” that I’m really excited about. It’s a song about an ex of mine who was quite comphet and had a lot of insecurities about their sexuality.
It’s, in a way, I suppose my “Good Luck Babe!” [by Chappell Roan]. That song is about that, but it’s also about the idea of somebody seeing your relationship as a lifestyle choice. You know how homophobes say that queerness is a lifestyle choice instead of it being just an identity, who you are, [and] who you love. That song I think is going to really resonate. I’m excited to play it live as well. There’s a really fun lyric, which I think people are gonna really scream.
CRAVE: When someone finishes their first listen of it’s just my opinion, what impression are you hoping will stick with them afterwards?
GIRLI: I feel like their first impression will be this girl is a train wreck. I feel even when I have blocked out time to be like I’m making an album, I feel like my mind is always in a hundred different places at once so it’s a real journey. All the songs are about different things, but I think hopefully people will hear how vulnerable and authentic I am in telling stories about my life and myself. They’ll hopefully feel like we’re friends after they listen to the album.
“i wish my tiktok comment section was a mansplaining-free zone but alas,” via girli on instagram
CRVE: What astrological sign would you assign to it’s just my opinion and why?
GIRLI: Oh my God, that is such a good question. I mean, I feel like this is kind of a cop out, but I would say, it’s Sagittarius because I’m Sagittarius. I also have a Pisces moon. I feel like the Pisces vibe really comes through in terms of the sensitivity vibe, but also there’s determination in this album, there’s determination in the songs. It’s determined, but it’s sensitive.
CRAVE: You’re embarking on a North American tour this June shortly after the release of it’s just my opinion. What can fans expect from this run and what are you most looking forward to?
Oh my gosh, I’m so stoked for this tour. I’ve done a lot of shows in the U.S. the past couple years, but they’ve all been support shows. I haven’t actually done my own proper headline tour by the time this one comes around. It’ll have been two years I think, so I’m just so excited to scream the new songs with [the fans].
The album would’ve been out for a month by that point, which I’m saying gives people plenty of time to learn the lyrics. I will be quizzing people, but I’m just so excited. With the way that politics is and the way that the world feels at the moment, especially towards women, gender minorities and queer people, it feels really scary. I think the answer to the rise in fascism that we’re seeing is community, and community is everything.
I see my shows as a form of community. I love being in a room with all my fans and I think music and storytelling and songs [are] so powerful in that way. I’m excited to scream, to rant. I’m excited to yap with the fans. Expect group therapy. That’s what I always say about my show.
CRAVE: This tour also kicks off at Baby’s All Right, the same venue where you first made your live debut in New York City. How are you feeling about returning there at this stage in your career?
GIRLI: When we were picking venues for the tour, there were a few cities where I really wanted to go back to the same places because I felt that doing some intimate shows around this album and giving back to fans who’ve been there for a really long time would be really amazing.
We tried to do a 50/50 split, going back to doing some small intimate shows [and] doing some bigger shows. I love Baby’s All Right. I love that venue so much and it holds such good memories for me. My first ever US show was there and I feel like it’s gonna be so fun.
CRAVE: When people leave a girli show, what is one thing you want people to take away from the experience?
GIRLI: I want them to feel like they have a community. They have a place that’s like a safe haven and [to] feel empowered.
girli will be hitting the road across North America this summer starting in Brooklyn, NY, in June. The 12-date tour will make its way to major cities including Chicago, LA, Toronto and more, before heading to Europe in the fall.
Tickets and information for all of girli’s upcoming dates can be found here.
Keep up with girli: Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / TikTok / Spotify
