B0YG1RL by B0YG1RL Album Review
B0YG1RL are the Miami-based EDM duo of June Vinette and Angela Rio. June started making music two years ago, saying he “...received a vision in Summer 2024 that told me to make music, and to make it in this very specific way.” in an interview with SoundFynd. Later in the interview, June attributes the beginning of his musicianship to needing something to do as well. “Necessity was definitely a big part of it. I had gotten kicked out right after turning 18 so I had no other choice but to try shit and do it all the way.”
Even with the newness of their talent, June and Angela have already created such an incredible sound for themselves. They’ve been busy as hell, too, with their most recent release, their self-titled album B0YG1RL, already being their fourth project of the year. When talking about the sound of their music with Lotion Magazine, the duo stated that while their sound will always be EDM, they aren’t bound by genre. And you can tell. On FOLLOW ME, cumbia blends with ethereal EDM in a gorgeous and hypnotic way. The track also boasts co-production from the likes of prblm, another Miami-based Haitian artist and the founder of the collective NOVAGANG. B0YG1RL’s album prior, EXIT 2B, features a tracklist almost completely produced by the collective.
The thing that initially really grabbed me about B0YG1RL’s music was their emotionality. When I got to the ninth track, SHOW ME, I was floored by June’s almost-frantic repetition of the lyric ‘Everything I gave away was worth it / Everything I gave away was worth it.’ The album’s penultimate song IAMNOT begins and ends with the mantra of, ‘what would the world look like beyond me?’ June delivers the vast majority of the lyrics on this song in a more subdued, almost trance-like way compared to his usual scream-yell. Between the repetitive nature of the intro and outro he muses, ‘let me see what I would look like if I could breathe’ in Haitian Creole. The instrumental laid under it glitches and undulates. To me, the song feels a lot like the nerves I feel as I emerge into adulthood. The lyrics that Angela and June write and the sound they produce are full of growing pains and the effects of how overstimulating it is to navigate life. The album sounds cathartic in the way where it puts a sound to some of the turbulence of young adulthood.
My favorite song on the whole album is the finale, angel. It’s a direction that I hope B0YG1RL keep exploring in their music. Plus, when a group makes music this good, I want all of the songs to be as long as they can be. I’m ready for the 75-minute B0YG1RL album. My favorite part of angel is the midpoint. June has just gotten finished with his wailed confession of, ‘I saw an angel and it hurt,’ and the beat starts to glitch. The first time I heard it, I thought there was something wrong with my headphones. This all culminates in a techno drop that is incredible. The hard bass carries the song out, until it eventually tapers out to a sound reminiscent of FOLLOW ME’s scintillation.
I can’t say enough incredible things about this album. I love June’s voice. What Angela brings to the visual component of their work is so realized I’m a little scared for what she’ll think up next. I think that Angela and June write amazing lyrics. With what B0YG1RL’s collaborators bring to their music and with how strong their want to create seems, I think that B0YG1RL are only going to keep building rapidly growing momentum on top of their short, yet already wild, careers.
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