Alt-pop duo Coco & Clair Clair always make their music fun and addictive. The best friends from Atlanta produce playful music, teasing what it’s like to be in their clique. They are a little bitchy, “delulu”, and “too rare for Raya” as they claim on their new album, aptly titled ‘Girl’, but it’s all done with a charm that makes their self-indulgence cute, and hard to stop listening to.
The music is underpinned by the intricacies of a loyal, abiding friendship, conveyed through the interplay between Coco’s talk-rapping and Clair’s airy singing. The duo met on Twitter over a decade ago, and it’s unsurprising previous soundbite singles ‘Pretty’, ‘Crushcrushcrush’ and ‘Pop Star’ have proven popular on TikTok. Their dreamy, digitally pulverized aesthetics coasts between dance, electro and bedroom pop, skirting both the mainstream and underground much in the same way Charli XCX has for over a decade.
On their second album ‘Girl’, Coco & Clair Clair explore their vulnerability in new relationships, a transition from their debut album ‘Sexy‘ which “felt more like a baby boy”, while the follow-up is more “a baby girl”. ‘Girl’ is less lo-fi than ‘Sexy’ and more sonically refined and intimate, taking cues from artists like Saint Etienne, Brandy, Everything but the Girl, Lana Del Rey, Club 8, Milky, and Madonna – artists that celebrated, toyed with and inverted femininity in their work.
Opener ‘Martini’ sees them pursue a love interest to a deconstructed trap beat, the territorial chase coming into sharp focus on the soporific ‘Kate Spade’; it’s here Coco & Clair Clair’s unserious bragging about being too big for celebrity dating app Raya highlights an insouciance at the heart of their writing. A cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s ‘Our House’ is one of the album’s best tracks, flirting with a strain of Piri & Tommy and PinkPantheress’ twee-pop, as a drum and bass rhythm skirts around soft vocals. ‘Everyone But You’ is the f-u song to toxic men, replete with lyrics like “you like it when you think that I’m dumb”, the guitar taking centre stage on the low-slung, psychedelic haze, arriving as a half-way reprieve.
Digs at other “wannabee heartthrobs” and “fugly bitches” on ‘My Girl’ and the flaunting sequel ‘Bitches Pt. 2’ has some of the best production flourishes on the album, with heavy use of synths that soar and fuzz. This pivots to a pulpy, loving gush on ‘Aggy’ which the duo share is about “leaving our cares behind and having a good night.”
You can’t escape that blithe, stupefied feeling with Coco & Clair Clair, and ‘Girl’ helps maintain their cool girl status.
7/10
Words: Ben Lee
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