RE: Braids - miniskirt

Mary-Elisabeth Moore

Slut Shaming is bad, but unfortunately so is Braids' new single "Miniskirt"
The nature of electronic music, whether pop or dance or ambient, tends not to allow for a simultaneous depth in both lyrics and instrumentation. The most you can really ask for is one clever line, which will almost always be related to love or sex or confusing the two, set on a loop. Grimes, The Knife, Little Dragon, and Purity Ring are all occasionally exceptions to the rule. 

That’s not at all to say that the quality of a song necessarily entails poetic lyrics. But if the lyrics are in any way made to be a clear focal point, they should at the very least not be stupid. It’s especially a shame to hear haphazardly thrown together rhyme schemes and cringe-inducing metaphors coming from a voice as interesting and pleasant as Standell-Preston’s. The sharp feminine quality to her singing bears stylistic similarities to other strong female artists, but when she angrily spits out lines such as “I’m the whore” or the chorus “In my little mini-skirt / You think you can have it” her voice sounds less like Bjork on “Declare Independence” or Bikini Kill on “White Boy”, and more like a girl who’s hopping on the feminist boat because it’s trendy.

The trendiness factor also creeps into Braid’s other newly released single “Taste”. Again, similar to how feminism was more than a legitimate theme for “Miniskirt”, the idea behind “Taste” is actually quite moving. Quoting a cheesy line from the overly-hyped and over-rated trying-real-hard-to-be-hipster film Perks of Being a Wallflower, however, was maybe a poor move.