Stockholm indie rock band and Atwood artist-to-watch Girl Scout spit in the faces of cynics, killjoys, and naysayers in “I Just Needed You to Know,” an unapologetic, emotionally-charged eruption of feverish angst and cool defiance.
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Stream: “I Just Needed You to Know” – Girl Scout
This is Girl Scout in its most raw form yet.
Time’s up for those who accept the world the way it is, without trying to make it better.
Time’s up for those who shrug their shoulders and rest their bones on “it is what it is“; who accuse all the optimists, activists, and wide-eyed dreamers of thinking too big and biting off more than they could possibly true.
Girl Scout’s latest single is angry, and it has every right to be. (In fact, I’m getting angry just writing these words.) The Stockholm band spit in the faces of cynics, killjoys, and naysayers in “I Just Needed You to Know,” an emotionally-charged eruption of feverish angst and cool defiance.
It’s a white-hot indie rock takedown of all those who stand in the way of change, and a powerful reminder to everyone fighting the good fight to keep going. For all those who have ever been put down just for daring to dream big, let this be your anthem; let this be your rallying cry.
Because “it is what it is” was never enough, and it never will be.
I held my shit same as always
Not quite happy, but it’s good enough
You always said that
I didn’t know what it meant
To feel bad
It is what it is,
but I don’t know what it is
I want to make it better,
Is that too much to ask?
Released May 27 via 235 Music, “I Just Needed You to Know” is utterly exhilarating: Girl Scout’s rip-roaring first single of 2024 follows last September’s critically acclaimed sophomore EP Granny Music, which spawned such hits as “Millionaire” and “Bruises” while highlighting the Swedish band’s fast-growing talents.
“Girl Scout’s fire burns bolder and brighter than ever on Granny Music, a sonically and emotionally charged five-track EP that leaves a lasting mark,” Atwood Magazine wrote in an artist feature published late last year. “Aching from the inside out with raw passion, heated lyrics, and an infectious, soul-stirring energy, Granny Music builds upon the promise of Girl Scout’s debut EP, ensuring their rightful place as an artist-to-watch in 2024 and beyond!”
That article went on to praise Girl Scout as unapologetic, uncompromising, and irresistible – and those three words ring even truer today, as the Stockholm-based four-piece deliver the hardest-hitting song of their nascent career. For Emma Jansson (guitar, vocals), Per Lindberg (drums), Viktor Spasov (guitar), and Evelina Arvidsson Eklind (bass), “I Just Needed You to Know” is both a rebuke of the complacency they’ve seen in (and heard from) older generations, as well as a manifestation of their band’s fuller sonic potential.
Songs like “Monster,” “Mothers & Fathers,” and “Run Me Over” have showcased the breadth and depth of their talents as a multi-modal indie rock band ready, willing, and able to embrace the full gamut of their genre, but “I Just Needed You to Know” sees them actually cashing in the chips and going all-out in song. The result is part math-rock, part garage, part pop-punk, and wholly, unilaterally Girl Scout: Catchy and cathartic, loud and soft all at once.
Do ya tell yourself
The same thing?
Do ya abhor those words
Like me?
“This song was birthed during a spontaneous jam session in the middle of rehearsing for tour. Viktor started toying with the opening riff and the rest of us stopped what we were doing. I think we banged out the song in about 45 minutes, and we recorded the demo immediately afterwards,” Emma Jansson tells Atwood Magazine. “I don’t actually remember when I wrote the lyrics. I write almost daily in my notes app and I stumbled across the line, ‘It is was it is but I don’t know what it is, I wanna make it better, is that too much to ask?‘”
“’It is what it is‘ is a phrase that I hear a lot amongst the older generations. To me it feels like a way to avoid acknowledging hard times or difficult feelings. It’s such a stifling phrase. What if that’s not enough? What if I want more than to grit my teeth and move on? I think there is a clear generational divide when it comes to the language surrounding mental health, and the willingness to understand the causes behind it. Almost the entire song was just the band playing in a room with the mics rolling. We really didn’t want to overproduce or muddle the key elements too much, we wanted the raw energy of the song to remain, so not much has been done to it really. This is Girl Scout in its most raw form yet.”
As far as this writer is concerned, there is no phrase more aggravating or denigrating than “it is what it is.”
I was (and remain) a relatively outspoken, curious soul, and I have memories of a younger Mitch being (by a teacher, of all people) told to stop asking so many questions, and simply accept the world as it was. I’m proud to say my parents stepped in, called the school, and actually admonished said teacher for behaving that way toward a student; they were always supportive of my open-mindedness, and encouraged me and my sister to approach the world with a thoughtful, critical eye.
Not everyone is so lucky; we don’t always have people in our corner, supporting our perspectives or worldviews. More often than not, authority figures will shut down ideas for change, rather than embrace them. It’s happened to me with family, with friends, with bosses and former colleagues – as I’m sure it happened to the members of Girl Scout, who wrote this song out of their own frustrations and inner tensions.
Yet what better way to double-down on your beliefs and recommit to yourself, than through shouting out loud everything you believe in? “It is what it is, but I don’t know what it is,” Emma Jansson sings, raising her metaphorical middle finger. “I want to make it better, is that too much to ask?” she declares, a mission statement.
It is what it is,
but I don’t know what it is
I want to make it better,
Is that too much to ask?
F*k the haters, believe in yourself, and believe in your cause. Change doesn’t come easy, but it’s always worth betting on – even when the chips are down, and even when everyone else has given up hope. After all, you can’t kill an idea.
All this revolutionary talk aside, “I Just Needed You to Know” is truly the refute we needed to hear – a breathtaking, soul-shaking fever dream that affirms Girl Scout continued place as one of indie rock’s most promising, and provocative, up-and-coming acts.
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