As we patiently wait for their new album Screen Violence to drop on August 27, Chvrches have shared their new single, ‘Good Girls’, and they are not pulling any punches. Premiered as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1, the song takes a powerful stand against misogyny, based on the experiences of frontwoman Lauren Mayberry herself.
It’s a vital song for an industry within which we continue to see inexcusable behaviour transpire, as Mayberry explains: “The opening line (killing your idols is a chore) was something I wrote after listening to some friends arguing about the present day implications of loving certain problematic male artists – I was struck by the lengths that people would go to in order to excuse their heroes and how that was so juxtaposed to my own experiences in the world. Women have to constantly justify their right to exist and negotiate for their own space. We’re told that bad things don’t happen to Good Girls. That if you curate yourself to fit the ideal – keep yourself small and safe and acceptable – you will be alright, and it’s just not f**king true.”
The accompanying visuals for ‘Good Girls’ form part of a trilogy with previous singles ‘He Said She Said’ and ‘How Not To Drown’, which director Scott Kiernan used to tell the stories behind each track. He narrates: “The video for ‘He Said She Said’ dealt with doubt in making of one’s own image while under the manipulation of another; while ‘How Not to Drown’ sought an exit from a low, from feeling penned in by larger power structures, and refusing to succumb to them again. But ‘Good Girls’ portrays a certain learned confidence in knowing who and what you are, despite what others might conform to themselves. It’s having a clear vision, or something like a compound eye that can see at all angles. So, like ‘How Not to Drown’ before it, ‘Good Girls’ continues down from a scene in the first video and steers it to a new parallel conclusion. Near the end, we find Lauren spiralling on the studio floor, surrounded by the crew and ghosts of the previous videos, as the entire image cycle finally comes to a halt.”
You can catch CHVRCHES performing as part of Splendour XR next weekend, with tickets available for the online festival right here.
Screen Violence is out on August 27 via Liberator Music.
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