On Feb. 15, Swedish band Girl Scout released their debut EP, “Real Life Human Garbage,” via Made Records. Embracing the weird and individualist outlet that music can provide for all, the band’s new project focuses on authenticity and self-perception. The weirdness in question can most likely be found on the track, “Weirdo.”
Dropping a music video starring actor Mark Williams, also known as Mr. Weasley from the ‘"Harry Potter" franchise, students weighed in on the track’s visuals and concept.
“Honestly, one of the thoughts that I had about the song and the video together was just ‘Wow, this video is weird,’” Josairy Aquino, a junior studying sociology, said. “I'm like, ‘Oh, well, the song's called ‘Weirdo,’ so it goes very well.’ I liked their sound. I liked what they were talking about.”
Aquino was excited to see Williams in the video, missing the nostalgia of his former role as Mr. Weasley.
“It was kind of nice to see him doing something so fun and creative after so many years after doing ‘Harry Potter,’” Aquino said. “It was heartwarming to see Mr. Weasley again.”
Emma Janson, vocalist and guitarist of Girl Scout, said that getting Williams to be in the music video was simply a coincidence thanks to the video’s director, Kenny McCracken, knowing the actor previously.
“Kenny McCracken, who directed the video, knew him and oddly enough he said yes pretty much immediately,” Janson said in an email. “We felt really lucky that he wanted to be involved!”
According to Janson, the video is all about the pressure of being happy around others, and how this can become a taxing thought on one’s mind.
“Okay this is my interpretation of it: the video is about the expectations you feel from others; the expectation of being happy, being funny, being ”on” when you’re around other people, and how taxing that feeling can be,” Janson said in an email.
Bailey Lint, a senior studying English creative writing, also enjoyed the sentiment of the music video, seeing symbolism within certain parts of it that represented Janson’s vision.
“I guess the message I got from it was like these two people, Mr. Weasley and then Girl Scout, (were) doing things to fit into society with putting makeup on themselves,” Lint said. “Then all these hands come in and that's what I thought other people or society wanted from them with putting me on all that makeup too.”
She enjoyed the end of the video when the symbolism behind the hands brought the true meaning of Girl Scout’s story to life.
“They find that they don't like it, like it's kind of uncomfortable,” Lint said. “At the end, they're working with these other hands and other people, or society maybe, working in harmony to be their own persons and create their own image of themselves, which I thought was actually pretty cool.”
Reflecting on their new EP, Janson says that the project focuses heavily on relationships and connection as well.
“‘Real Life Human Garbage’ is pretty much all about relationships,” Janson said in an email. “The relationship with yourself, with your friends, with your crushes. How we connect and how we fail to connect with ourselves and each other.”
The singer also says that the feeling of anxiety is very present throughout the EP, as most of it was written during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s a lot of anxiety on the EP,” Janson said in an email. “Most of it was written during a pretty anxious time in the midst of COVID, although I wouldn’t exactly call this a COVID record.”
Working with producers Ali Chant, known for his work with artists like Soccer Mommy and Perfume Genius, and Jacknife Lee, who’s worked with The Killers and Bloc Party, Janson said the experience of creating the EP was fun and playful.
“It was a very playful process, there were a lot of weird niche musical instruments being thrown around and trying weird noise effects,” Janson said in an email. “That was pretty much our first experience being in a real studio with a producer and it really was an immensely inspiring experience for us.”
Now, the band is gearing up to perform at South by Southwest next month, one of the music industry’s biggest events of the year, and Janson is excited for the opportunity.
“It feels quite big,” Janson said in an email. “I find it pretty amazing that we were even invited. It’s bizarre looking at the rosters from previous years, I can’t believe we’re getting the same opportunity.”
