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Members of Boygenius at Tiny Desk
Members of Boygenius at Tiny Desk
NPR Music
Culture > Entertainment

For the Record, I Love “The Record” — a boygenius album review

Lauren Deaton
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pitt chapter.

I saw the pictures forever ago: Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers all together, for a photoshoot, and I knew more boygenius content had to be coming. And boy, was I glad I was right. On January 18th, the iconic indie trio announced the release of their first full length joint album, the record, dropped 3 singles that day, and another single on March 1st before releasing the full album on March 31st. 

Sitting down on the 31st and hitting play on the full album, I knew within the first minute that I was already completely in love with it. My eyes literally felt like they were bugging out of my head as I listened to “Without You Without Them,” a beautiful, gentle and mostly acoustic love letter to the friendship between the three members of boygenius. The record is a triumph, perfectly blending the unique sounds and vocals of the three women throughout the entire thing; their friendship and their love for not just each other, but also each other’s talents is so incredibly evident with this album. Each song presents a unique opportunity for each of the women to lend their vocals to a song in another’s style– “$20” is my favorite example of this, with the song bearing Julien’s signature vibe and sound, but featuring Phoebe’s screaming, haunting, vocals. Ughh, I just love this album so much. 

However, two of my favorite tracks, at least as I’m writing this (every time I listen to the album I find a new thing to love) are “Anti-Curse” and “Letter to an Old Poet;” this is unsurprising as these two tracks bear the most similarity to my favorite songs from the 2018 boygenius EP, “Salt in the Wound” and “Me & My Dog.” “Anti-Curse” was my instant favorite the first time listening through the album; I’m not even 100% sure what it is that makes me so drawn to it, but the minute I heard it, I knew it was mine. “Letter to an Old Poet” includes a verse that was originally written for “Me & My Dog” but never used, and its effect in this song is incredible, especially as the listener is likely expecting the lyrics from “Me & My Dog.” It’s the perfect way to close the album.

I love boygenius, I love the record, and I can’t wait to keep listening to it over and over again. 

Lauren Deaton is a third-year student at the University of Pittsburgh, she is currently serving both as Chapter Chair and Writer. She most frequently writes about entertainment topics– including music recommendations, topics of representation, and anticipated movie lists. Lauren is double majoring in English Literature and Media and Professional Communications with a focus on Corporate and Community Relations. She is also pursuing a Film and Media Studies minor and Public and Professional Writing and Children's Literature Certificates and is a member of the Honors College. She recently completed a research position with the Pitt School of Education and will be continuing a research position with the Language and Literacy Division at Pitt during the Fall 2024 semester. In the future, she hopes to work in publishing helping to increase access to representation. She is also a writer for Studio 412 a creative outlet on Pitt’s campus and is a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority. Lauren loves her dog, her friends, her family, and everything reading and coming of age related.