‘Pretty Boy‘ is the debut song from Sydney-based indie-rock band GRXCE, and it is essentially their baby. “It really is like watching your kid grow up (not that any of us have first-hand parental experience), we look back on the track with such fondness and love and it really sets such a great milestone for us as a band that will not soon be forgotten,” the band say on the release of their debut song.
GRXCE is made up of five very chaotic human beings; Jamila Grace, Emily Elvish, Jonathan Amirzaian, Freddy Zeater & Alex Berger. “The name comes from lead singer Jamila’s last name as a homage to this project starting as a solo endeavour, Jamila brought all the members of the band together in the latter half of 2021, pulling Jono and Freddy from a university music class and finding Alex and Emily through a Sydney Musicians Facebook group,” the band explain on the inspiration and formation of their band.
“We added the X honestly just to make it look less like a name and more like a brand or logo so we now accept all variations of pronunciations.” — GRXCE on their namesake.
When Jamila first wrote Pretty Boy back in 2020 the song stemmed from a much more insecure place. “I was so shocked at the time that someone I perceived as being ‘cool’ was genuinely interested in me but now two years on from that initial writing I feel so much more empowered as an individual and I don’t really think anyone is ‘too cool’ for me,” Jamila says about the song. “The instrumental changed a lot to reflect this personal growth.”
“It drips in sarcasm and reclaims the over-confidence that these stereotypes possess to champion the self-assured femme,” Jamila continues. “Whilst the pretty boy is placed as the central character of the track at the end of the day the song is about being confident in yourself and not letting anyone blindside you with their red flags just cause they are physically attractive. To all the pretty boys out there this is for you and we hope you love it.”
The creative process for their song was entirely a new experience, as essentially the studio experience was their first. “It brought us so much closer as friends as well because we spent almost every second of every day for two weeks together to create this song and some others that’ll be out in the next year,” the band says on the experience. “Looking back, the creative process and the hard work that has been put into this release is the glue that holds us together.”
“Pretty Boy pokes fun at the ‘pretty boy’ stereotype; the soft boy who thinks because they pierced their ears in 2019 they don’t have to be a good person.” — GRXCE on their debut single.
In saying that though, the track was slower and had an RnB feel, and the instrumental had pop-punk elements that gave it a punchier, fiery feel. Jamila continues, “The track hits way harder with the chugging lead guitar line and the drums bounce around creating this perfect, sexy ebb and flow effect as the song moves between verse and chorus. We are super happy with how the song has transformed over time!”
Sonically, the song started with rough chords and lyrics which Jamila brought to the band to expand upon. “It existed in its early form for many many months before we reshaped it,” the band say. “It wasn’t until we sat down in the studio with Fletcher Matthews that we really put our minds towards manipulating and expanding further on our original ideas. As soon as the lead guitar line was played that hooked us into the pop-punk direction, it reminded us of early Paramore, beabadoobee, Nessa Barrett etc. all fantastic female-led projects that pack a punch.”
“We treat most of our songs in the same way. They all have started in a similar sense of having a framework of chords, concepts and lyrics being presented by Jamila and then working as a band to flesh it out into a product that can be played live.” — GRXCE
The band always thinks of everything as a work in progress, even while they are playing it live, which allows the song to grow as they grow, both as a band and as humans. “Nothing is finalised until we record it and put it out to the world and even then we would never shy away from reimagining a song or creating an alternative version,” the band continue.
Lyrically the song has stayed exactly the same, even the call and response backing vocals came straight from the very first demo of the song. Story wise the tone has definitely changed to being more self-assured but overall the target of the song, the ‘pretty boy’, has stayed the same.
“The greatest change has been sonically. The lead and rhythm guitar lines changed completely, the drums sped up and added new fills to make the sonic landscape more exciting, and the entire vibe of the song went from smooth Rnb to classic pop punk so it was a massive change adding in the grungier elements.”
With this song, the band hopes it can inspire self-confidence in whoever is listening. “It’s designed to get people dancing, feeling good about themselves and feeling unstoppable in the world,” Jamila says. “I hope that it makes people wanna come to see us live and stick around to hear what else we have to offer cause we definitely have a lot more layers of GRXCE to unwrap.”
“I think Pretty boy is a great starting point because it’s fun and punchy but GRXCE has many more emotional stories and elements to unpack. We always say our signature is making “sad music for people to dance to” so I’m excited to get to open up a vulnerable side to GRXCE.” — Jamila from GRXCE
“I believe that music is all about putting a magnifying glass to the small moments in our lives and in the same way life is unpredictable and varied, GRXCE also has the same effect in our songwriting,” Jamila continues. “We hope to provide a song for every occasion and emotional experience so you can celebrate with us, cry with us, party with us and everything in between.”
