Skyrocketing supergroup boygenius is made up of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. While the three members each have their own following and solo albums, magic happens when they unite.
New York Times
boygenius are all smiles in the “New York Times”.
The first project they worked on together was their EP which contained eight songs, written specifically for a tour for another artist. It was on this tour that they all met and immediately hit it off. With Lucy and Julien meeting first, it was platonic love at first sight; then later with the introduction of Phoebe, who was already making a huge name for herself.
While working on their EP the three band members found that not only had they loved making those songs together, but they were determined to both stay friends and form a new band of their own.
Since their EP’s release in 2018, boygenius went on a kind of hiatus. This was mostly due to the release of Phoebe Bridgers’ sophomore album “Punisher”. Though “Punisher” has made waves of its own, the band’s debut full album “the record” has pushed the trio to an even higher level of fame.
Among their many fans are artists such as Taylor Swift, K-pop idol RM (Kim Nam-joon) from BTS, and many more. This year the band has been featured alongside Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepson, Hozier, and more. And it’s no surprise, as their album has become critically acclaimed, written about in “’The Rolling Stone” and many other musical publications.
As many fans will attest, Julien, Phoebe, and Lucy are extremely affectionate with one another, often seen sitting on each other’s laps, pulling one another to the ground on stage into giant group hugs, and kissing during instrumental solos. This breaks so many barriers by pushing back on how we perceive affection and its role in our lives platonically. These forms of affection are rarely given to friends, this kind of intimacy is usually reserved for romantic relationships.
“the record”, “Cool About It”, and “Not Strong Enough” were nominated for Grammys in 2024. Of their five nominations the supergroup won three: Alternative Music Album (“the record”), Best Rock Performance (“Not Strong Enough”), and Best Rock Song (“Not Strong Enough”).
These huge wins come just days after the group announced their plans for an indefinite hiatus. At the Grammys they elaborated on the decision. Phoebe Bridgers had this to say: “This is funny because I guess we just didn’t tell anybody. But we told each other at the beginning of this project that it will have a finite date, like a finite amount of time devoted to it. And we completed that time, and now we’ve walked into the sunset.”
Avid fans are unsurprised at this announcement as all three artists have their own careers and coming together as a group was a way to serve each other and themselves, but without having to sacrifice their own careers. The enmeshment that bands deal with often leads to burn out and resentment and the group has previously mentioned that their friendship supersedes the band.
With a limited number of songs (only an EP and a single record made by the group) fans will have to tune into the individual artists to get their fix and hope that the friendship between Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus will continue to flourish.
If you’re looking for your next moody rock album, “the record” might be just the thing for you.