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Boyfriends (Original)

Type: Official
Writers: Dan Gleyzer, Grace Vanderwaal, Rollo Spreckly (Roland Spreckley)
Times Performed: 8
Play Official Video

Notes

Background for the song

At the first performances of the song for a live audience, at the Purgatory in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 7th, 2023, and later at the Sleepwalk Bar on June 10th, Grace gave some background (combined here into one narrative):

[7th] The song doesn’t really make sense. It’s really catchy and cute. I kind of wrote it because I was thinking about the relationship you have with casual boyfriends. And it’s kind of that surface-level emotional relationship, where you are never fully letting your guard down, and you are tied up, even if it’s a little subliminal, making sure that they are still enjoying their time with you. It’s not like that REAL friend. And I was like – fuck, all the girlfriends I have are like boyfriend relationships, you know. [10th] They were so surface level, but I still felt the pressure to keep them around and keep them happy. There wasn’t that sense of friendship vulnerability there.[7th] I’m mending the fires of these friendships. And I have all these fucking boyfriends I’m managing.

On the YouTube live for the release of the song, Grace gave some of background for why it was chosen for a release and how the music video came about:

Background for the release of the song

[At the recent live shows in Brooklyn) I wanted to keep it open, if people really liked the song, we should drop that as a single, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it to like actually happen. People liked this one, I don’t know, it’s not my favourite, but we were like – OK, let’s just put it out there, screw it. So, let’s do something really, really quick. This is the first time I feel that me and my team so quickly turned around and just dropped a song.

But this song has definitely grown on me. People responded really well at the shows; maybe in real life, they won’t like it so much. I never really thought about being big or an advocate for this song. It’s also quite old. So, I feel like if you know me now, really, really well, not just my old stuff, you’ll know my sound, and I feel like I sound younger (with this song); I feel like it shows. It's so old me.

We have so much music. We should just start making stupid videos and just putting shit out. [someone online asked, “Just Kids”? Grace answered:] “You know, that’s what we were going to release.


That the song was indeed old is documented by a handwritten list of the intended tracks for Letters Vol 2. Grace posted back in 2020 when she was still at boarding school. (see catalogue page for Letters Vol 2), and by an Instagram post by the co-writer and producer of the song Dan Gleyzer: "So pumped that this song is finally out five years later, and it still BUMPS!!! it’s an honour working with both of you as always"

About the music video

Fun fact about the video, We just got this camcorder. We never even expected to make a music video. We were going to call it “a visual”. But it turned outs so well that we decided to just name it a fucking “music video”. So, this video is just me and Blythe and a camcorder in a studio, trying to make visuals. We were going to do only one take of visuals originally. This was my shortest video shoot ever. I don’t even know if I can call it a music video shoot. Later Grace added: "[we] made all these visuals with just a camcorder, some Ken dolls, and a dream, lol. So much fun. ... Thank you to the ladies who helped me put this all together♥️💪”



Performances

2023.05.24 In the studio or rehearsal Two fragments of the same song
2023.06.07 Purgatory
2023.06.10 Sleepwalk
2023.06.12 Anti Social Camp (Baby's Alright)
2023.07.13 At home
2023.07.18 At home Homemade - and very different production of the song (partial, 2:25 min)
2023.08.10 Soho House Session (Soho House) Fragment (23 sec)
2023.09.26 Elsewhere

Reviews, Reactions etc.

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Releases

Release Date Record Type Track
2023-07-21BoyfriendsSingle1

Lyrics


Covers and Remixes

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