With many road trips with friends during uncertain times like these, “California” by girlfriends could not have come in a better time! Girlfriends led their debut with a bop. Released on June 26 2020, this is sure to become the summer song you can not get out of your head!
Members Travis Mills and Nick Gross both have come a long way in the music industry with their latest project: girlfriends. Travis Mills is not only an artist but was a Beats 1 Host and an actor. Nick Gross, on the other hand, is an entrepreneur, musician and founder of the Find Your Grind education platform. With other successes under their belt, their group girlfriends have been a long time coming nonetheless.
Their style is inspired by other influential artists like blink-182, 5 Seconds Of Summer, and The 1975. As said by Mills himself, this new project “for soulful expression and emotional catharsis, a means to process his feelings of grief, uncertainty, and renewed vigor for life, in a way that’s likely to connect with others who struggle.”
Without a doubt, “California” is catchy. After listening to it a couple of times, I found myself singing “California looks good on ya” over and over again. That’s one of the first steps to create a hit song and this song did just that. As for the composition of the song, there was a clear intro, chorus, bridge and outro. The acoustics and chorus in the beginning of the song were a clear indication for a summer anthem song. The melange of harmonies in the chorus allows for the audience to feel the drums in the background as well as hearing the tuneful chorus.
Secondly, not many songs have the vocals and the instruments play as one, which this song encompassed. The chorus and introduction to the drums from the very beginning are “singing” together which is what makes the chorus much more catchier. As someone who is a big fan of drums, especially ones that are prevalent in a song, it made me appreciate it that much more. The composition of this song reminded me of that of 5 Seconds Of Summer (which I am a huge fan of!)
I cannot wait to see what is next for girlfriends.
“California” by the girlfriends have checked off all the boxes for a great debut song. You can’t go wrong with anthem songs and I can’t imagine how great it would be in concert. This pop-punk song has a “modern twist” which is one of the influences for them as teenagers. I can’t help but mention the melancholic lyrics with the happy sound. However tracing back to how the song related to both Mills and Gross, I can see why.
In some ways, we can relate to not necessarily living in LA, but of internal struggles one faces. As Mills stated, “This song is a tribute to where we grew up. I have seen LA eat and spit people out and I’ve seen it make some incredible things happen…”
Overall, I was genuinely impressed with the organic nature of the songs along with the catchy chorus. I am excited to see the new songs this duo is going to come out with in the future.
