Concert Review: Grlwood Form A Scream Pop Cult In Brooklyn
Fast-paced chaos! That is what life can feel like in the city, especially if you are not from New York. While this city has become a worldly mecca for opportunity, the youth that come do not always last, but, if they do, they are welcomed into a world that truly welcomes every eccentric genius. Thus, the happily declared “Kentucky queerdos,” known as Grlwood, found a new home in Brooklyn.
As the head honchos of Scream-Pop, Grlwood are a lot to absorb. Rej Forester, literally, screams into the mic as if she is the leading lady in a horror film, but this “scary movie” is nothing compared to a world where people think “Vaccines Made Me Gay” and just anyone can act like “I’m Yer Dad.” To Grlwood, music is the response or “clap-back” to the spoken stupidities of everyday, and Brooklyn is, certainly, a place where the world is intellectually judged. A historical mecca for artists and the oppressed, often intertwined, Brooklyn is, sort of, the original safe space; where communities have both flocked to/ been ostracized and had to create worlds of expression for a world that thought them voiceless.
Seeing a crowd of New Age Brooklynites respond to Grlwood’s popified anarchy could spark both cheers and a sociology course. Garnering a cult following, Grlwood’s concert is not just music; it is communal. They are singing to people who feel, spiritually, too colorful for a world stuck in grey. Our spirits are meant to be seen as an endless canvas of glowing tints and hues, to which “Bisexual” and “Communicate With Me” go beyond queer anthems into declarations that we are all walking rainbows trying to get through storms. In an odd way, such a declaration is the most punk thing to ever be said. After all, Punk was born from the anger of greater people tied and bound by the rules of lesser men.
At Baby’s All Right, as people head-banged and moshed, Grlwood carried their instruments and voices like puppeteers; fully aware that their crowd was filled with their puppets eager to have their emotional strings pulled. Hence, I make my sociological reference. We go to concerts to emotionally purge, and, while we think are going to get happy, these punk-poppers use their show for you to get mad, get loud, and get motivated. All things you need to/ have every right to feel. For More Information On Grlwood Click Here.
