With their third single and accompanying animated lyric video, the six-piece rock n’ roll band takes us on a tour of our gritty city via a Brooklyn-dwelling badass with the power to “recognize the capacity for magic in the mundane”
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It’s easy to be amazed on a Bali beach. To be in awe in the Alps, gaga on the Greek Islands, moved and mesmerized amongst the mountains at Machu Picchu.
It takes a little more work to see beauty in the gritty city. To find the miracles in the mayhem. To discover the glitter in the grime.
But that’s what makes life here so special. It’s smooth jazz on a urine-scented subway platform, bright bursts of nature springing up from cement, surprising acts of kindness from scruffy strangers and the endearing perseverance of Pizza Rat. That’s the magic of the city—a more complicated kind of beauty that isn’t plastered on postcards or desktop backgrounds and a specific type of extraordinary that isn’t always obvious. Unless, of course, you’re looking for it.
That brings me to the new song from Brooklyn’s Big Girl, which offers a loving look at Brooklyn from the perspective of a banged-up protagonist with a beat-up car. A rough-edged gal with rose-colored glasses. A cool character with an appreciation for everyday wonders, whose view of the world is—to be honest—is something we can all learn from.
From Big Girl, this is “Black-Eyed Susan.”
Ahead of the release, Kaitlin Pelkey of Big Girl sent over a description of the six-piece band’s third single with some insight on the character they crafted to portray a uniquely New York kind of contrast.
“‘Black-Eyed Susan’ is a story about a woman named Susan who has a quietly fantastical life in broken yet beautiful Brooklyn. Open hydrants create rivers out of gutters, yellow flowers with dark centers grow around dumpsters, and graveyards are the closest thing to nature. Susan might not be your friend, but you want her to be. She’s tough magic, rolling around in her old car which is always on the verge of breaking down.”
In addition to the single, the band has released an animated lyric video by Magdalene Kennedy (who also recently created Lizzo’s video for “2 Be Loved”) (!), which perfectly illustrates the song from the dreamy perspective of Black-Eyed Susan herself.
“We see the world through Susan’s eyes which recognize the capacity for magic in the mundane. She makes her way to the graveyard, which for her and so many of us is a respite from the abrasive hot tar streets. The graveyard is a softer place, a place to dream, where sometimes the headstones can block out the highrises on the horizon. She is comfortable with this closeness to death the way New Yorkers have to be on some level — inhaling pollution, dodging traffic, and inhabiting crumbling infrastructure in exchange for a somewhat more magical life.”
The kind of life that, I think we can all agree, is 100% worth it.
“Black-Eyed Susan” is the latest taste of the band’s forthcoming album Big Girl vs. GOD, out for release early 2023! Catch Big Girl liiiiiiiive 10/20 at The Sultan Room with Modern Diet and My Son The Doctor! Tix available here.
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Follow Big Girl at @big_girl_irl, and add the songs to your Spotify playlists!
Feature image provided by the band.