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How boygenius Became the World’s Most Exciting Supergroup
by Thomas Widzinski - NOISE Magazine Jan 19, 2023
T’S 10. A.M. IN MALIBU, and Zuma Beach is empty, save for a husky on the shore and a surfer waist-deep in the ocean. The late-November sky is the precise shade of a cerulean crayon, and the lighting is almost too perfect. It feels like one of Tony Soprano’s dreams. Or maybe I died and I’m in some kind of hazy afterlife, one where you get to hang out with the world’s most exciting indie band. When I express this thought aloud, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus — otherwise known as boygenius — erupt with laughter. “We’re meeting you in purgatory,” says Dacus, 27. “So, how’d you do in your life?”
Boygenius love classic rock — after Bridgers spoke to Paul McCartney on Instagram Live in 2021, she broke down in tears. But boygenius also love to subvert male hero worship of all kinds — their band name is a reference for overconfident men who are praised for their every thought — and more than anything, they just want to be treated like famous bands of dudes. Just think of the cover of their self-titled EP, where they sat on a couch in the same formation as Crosby, Stills, and Nash did on their debut. Or just glance at the cover of this magazine, where they’ve replicated our January 1994 Nirvana cover.
