In an interview at the KROQ studio in Los Angeles with Kevan Kenney, indie supergroup boygenius spoke casually and honestly about their songs and creative process.
LISTEN NOW: boygenius with Kevan Kenney
boygenius was formed by Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker back in 2018, as each of the independent singer-songwriters formed a friendship during their tours. What was originally supposed to be a song collaboration turned into an entire EP, and now, the supergroup has released their debut album, The Record. As the band discussed their song “Leonard Cohen,” they also had an internal debate on their own songwriting processes. “Making something, it’s like you close the loop on it. Like it's a container for a whole memory,” songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Lucy Dacus said. “Imagine writing such a perfect song, that’s like, ‘Oh, did it, it can float away.’”
“But you don’t know when you write it that it’s perfect,” Julien Baker countered. “Cause it rests from your experience.” The experience in their song “Leonard Cohen” stems from a true story, where the band was debating some of the greatest songs without choruses, and Cohen’s famous hit, “Chelsea Hotel No. 2” was brought up. So enamored by the discussion and the music playing, Bridgers drove in the wrong direction and no one corrected her. With that as inspiration, the three artists created their own song without a chorus, each contributing in balance with one another.
Clearly, the band’s creative dynamic has been well fleshed out. All contributed songs and ideas to their album, The Record, though Bridgers revealed that she relies on her bandmates to hold her accountable. “I’ll get a template of a song, and then I just spend the rest of the time trying to perfect it or something about it is bugging me, like I just know when it’s done,” she explained. ”But it’s really helpful having these guys (Lucy and Julien) around me… If I’m left to my own devices, that process, the last 10% of something can take me like, two years. And with these guys, they’re just like, ‘Just choose to finish it right now.’“
Additionally, the band revealed that they break rules as a kind of lyric and songwriting method. “I have so many [rules], and I break them often,” Dacus explained. “Or I have general things that I’m like, ‘I can’t do that.’ But then it’s enticing, like, ‘I can’t say that’ but then you do, and it’s probably the best line.” As for the music itself, all three members cited music theory as their initial creative guide. To prove she wasn’t a complete hipster, Bridgers commented, “I like the rules and construct of music theory, I do!” “Says the girlie that failed music theory twice in high school?” Dacus interjected jokingly, with the quick-witted Bridgers nodding, replying, “That’s why I like it.” For Julien Baker, music theory was a method of learning what rules to break in the first place. “I leaned so hard into music theory because I didn’t get it and I needed a framework,” she told Kenney. “But now sometimes my compulsion to learn more about the thing I’m passionate about and understand the rules and constructs, you learn them so you can operate fluidly outside of them too.”
Check out the full interview above, which includes some hilarious back-and-forth on their parody advertisements, future collaborations, and even Tinder.