I wrote a review of Wor$t Girl in America and thought I’d share it here!
Chronology of a Pop Star’s Evolution
As is the case for many queer people, Slayyyter has been on my radar for a long time. I remember listening to Mine back in 2019, and I immediately saw the Britney Spears inspiration. Slayyyter, back then, in my opinion, was suffering from something many pop stars aren’t immune to: a lack of musical identity that makes you stand out amongst your peers.
Don’t get me wrong, though. I still listen to Mine sometimes. It’s a banger, but it wasn’t the project I gravitated toward when seeking out exciting new pop music. It was just a song that fell into my algorithm and was sometimes pushed into my listening queue. I checked out her self-titled debut mixtape, and it wasn’t really my taste all the way through.
I was deep in the hyperpop sphere, and Slayyyter was a nice little addition, but it wasn’t my favorite album of 2019. Thankfully, Slayyyter’s sound has continued to grow and evolve with each new album. It has been one of those rare cases where the artist learns from their surroundings and adapts. Slayyyter’s next effort, 2021’s Troubled Paradise, was miles ahead in many ways, particularly lyrically and musically.
STARFUCKER, Slayyyter’s second studio album, was even better! You might guess by this point where this review is going and why I felt motivated to write it. STARFUCKER was full of glittery and hard-hitting synths that carried the production with Slayyyter’s voice as the main instrument, but I’d argue that Slayyyter has achieved her magnum opus (at least up until now) with Wor$t Girl in America.
That might be a bold statement to some, but seeing the reactions and the newfound peaks she’s reached, I’d argue people agree with this take! Whereas Slayyyter seemed to follow trends in her past projects, with an aesthetic that felt a bit put-on, this album actually shows her in her true element.
Small-Town Origins & Tumblr Sanctuary
An album discussing her life, her relationships, and her struggles, connecting it all through a blue-collar, middle-class American lifestyle, with the main visual somehow fitting right into her niche. Slayyyter, whose real name is Catherine Grace Garner, was born in Kirkwood, MO, a city of around 30,000 people. Growing up with no money and a single mother, she turned to the internet as a safe haven away from the messiness of real life. She became a regular on Tumblr, idolizing pop divas such as Marina and the Diamonds, Lana Del Rey, and Charli XCX. I guess if you were a queer teenager in the early 2010’s, this was the world you immersed yourself in.
Having grown up Catholic and attended a Catholic grade school on a full-ride scholarship, there’s a tinge of religious trauma, which has been sprinkled throughout her career and iconography, but is more prevalent in WGIA. This same imagery can be found within the worlds of artists such as Ethel Cain, but Slayyyter does so under a glittery synth-pop veil.
Wor$t Girl in America, but It’s Her Magnum Opus
Once a Tumblr girl, always a Tumblr girl, and the chaotic, depressive energy of this album reflects that.
The album is an absolute delight, I must say. It deals with themes that a lot of us can understand: sex, love, violence, anger, sadness, success, suicide, and so much more. The album starts off with its more hedonistic cuts, which, funnily enough, were the singles released, and I didn’t really enjoy all of them at the time. I believe this album works best as a full body of work versus stand-alone tracks. When you’ve listened to Slayyyter for so long and you have observed this evolution, a song like CRANK, CANNIBALISM!, or OLD TECHNOLOGY seems oddly out of place in her discography, but within the album, they work perfectly.
There’s a sort of sexual anger in those tracks where Slayyyter is recounting party nights spent with men of questionable intentions, something we’re all familiar with. However, the back half of the album gives way to the more vulnerable tracks, which, in my humble opinion, shine much brighter than the rest. In fact, I actually think this album is one of those weird cases where the more you listen, the better it gets.
The album’s production sits somewhere between Justice and Crystal Castles. Songs like DANCE… have interesting guitar riffs that seem plucked straight out of Justice’s D.A.N.C.E (huh, funny, no pun intended) and Genesis, whereas UNKNOWN LOVERZ and OLD FLING$ have the shimmery, nostalgic qualities that Crystal Castles possessed.
Some of the Best Songs She’s Ever Created
And now that I mentioned it, there’s an indisputable generational run of tracks in this album. UNKNOWN LOVERZ, OLD FLING$, I’M ACTUALLY KINDA FAMOUS, and $T. LOSER flow into one another beautifully. Whereas the first two lean into the more vulnerable side of the record, talking about a toxic relationship you can’t escape from and toxic exes who want to ruin your current relationship, the latter two songs deal with very specific themes: One is about someone trying to one up you by dropping names without realizing you’re an actual celebrity, the other one is about someone thinking they’re better than you just because of your hometown ($T. LOSER is actually a play on St. Louis, where Slayyyter grew up).
The most interesting track on the album, in my opinion, is BRITTANY MURPHY. I learned while researching for this article that one of Slayyyter’s favorite movies is Uptown Girls, and she sort of dedicated this song to Brittany Murphy’s memory as a symbol of Hollywood tragedy, where your life can seem so grand and fancy for many, but you’re dying on the inside. Funnily enough, I related to this track a lot. I actually cried when Brittany Murphy died, and now I can’t watch Uptown Girls anymore because it makes me incredibly sad.
Learning How to Just Dance Through the Pain
All in all, Slayyyter’s Wor$t Girl in America is a shining jewel in a sea of pop music being released every Friday. It reminds us that, no matter how big these stars get or how bright they shine, they’re just people from small towns who’ve had the same struggles that we’ve had, and while sometimes life can be a real bitch, we need to learn to just dance.