The New Zealand quintet brought their southern hemisphere electro-pop to the UK earlier this year and are often compared to MGMT and Passion Pit. They had mainstream success in their homeland, when their track ‘Young Blood’ became the first debut single to reach number one in New Zealand for 16 years.
The third single to be taken from their debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You, ‘Girls Like You’ is a fierce attack on the types of attractive girls who historically have not given the ‘nice guy’ a chance. Everyone knows the types – the girl who is the centre of attention and has guys falling at her feet, vying for her attention. To top it all off, this girl definitely knows she’s all that, and then some.
The track’s lyrics are a scathing observation of these girls, with the protagonist asking what they would do if the tables were turned on Beauty and the Geek.
Questions such as “What would you do if you lost your beauty, how would you deal with the light?” and “How would you cope if the world decided to make you suffer for all that you were?” the latter perhaps a reference to the bullying that those less fortunate have had to endure during school etc.
Many a male songwriter has admitted to writing songs about ‘mean girls’ who have inspired them in some way, mainly being unlucky in love. There’s a knowing nod to this in the catchy chorus of “Don’t you know people write songs about girls like you?”
But somewhere, you have to wonder, does the protagonist actually have feelings for this girl he hates so much? There’s a fine line…
