The indie-pop girls have been delivering so far in the last year and with the release of singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus’ latest song, “Kissing Lessons,” there is clearly no exception to the rule. Lucy Dacus, friend of other ‘sad-girl indie’ artists Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, broke out of the soft, pensive style that this group of singers are known for with her new punchy, indie-rock single.
After releasing fliers around major US cities, such as NYC and Richmond, Virginia (the singer’s hometown), this past weekend while advertising a hotline for kissing lessons, Dacus released a single and music video by the same name on February 2nd. The song itself is a short recount of her experience with kissing her best friend in the second grade and the innocence of young, queer love. To accompany the single, Dacus released a music video starring a young girl in her bedroom. The video is chalk-full of early 2000’s nostalgia as the actress in the video dances in a feather boa, plays on her Gameboy, and wears clothes that I would have poured over for hours in the Limited Too catalogs. It serves as a perfect time capsule of childhood in suburbia 20 years ago.
I cannot stress enough how much I loved this song when I first listened to it and how much I still love it now. Dacus’ usually soft voice is strong and matches the crunchy guitar riffs that give this song a new feel in the artist’s canon. Further, the light-hearted lyrics have the perfect balance of tongue-and-cheek innocence of a first kiss while still displaying Dacus’ knack for artistic lyricism. The light-hearted nature of the song mixed with the theme make this a perfect anthem for Valentine’s Day. If this is the direction of her music and sound, I honestly cannot wait to hear more and see how Lucy Dacus explores her musical talents and abilities. 10/10 recommend giving it a listen!