The Pits: Clairo and the Best of Both Genres

By Katlyn Mortimer

North American indie pop darling turned folk-rock singer Clairo has grown from her initial place in a 2018 niche meme Instagram post, no longer writing songs titled ‘Flaming Hot Cheetos’ produced on Garageband with a MIDI keyboard. On a Sunday night in Glasgow, the 26-year-old took the stage with her band, and spent the first couple minutes in the spotlight with glasses of red wine as they mimed a conversation between friends. As the show went on, the singer and her band performed tracks from her third LP released in 2024, Charm, as well as songs from her two previous records. Throughout the performance, I couldn’t help but notice the closed mouths of those around me, and the immediate uptake in energy when she performed an upbeat number, which are predominantly from her earliest LP immunity, such as her hits ‘bags’ and ‘Sofia’. So why is this the case for Clairo? It seems her fanbase has stuck with her through the years, although she has undoubtedly lost a few listeners since her genre switch. In this month’s edition of the pits, I’ll be discussing the complexities of a genre shift.

Claire Cottrill, professionally known as Clairo, started releasing music in 2017 before eventually getting signed to FADER (and facing some allegations of nepotism because of it). She produced her earliest singles herself, and even after being signed, she became a torchbearer of ‘bedroom pop’, which was the name given to low-production level indie-pop that took much of the internet by storm in 2018. Following the release of her 2018 EP diary 001, she released her debut album Immunity in 2019. Again, this record remained sonically consistent with her previous work, utilising vocal effects, electric guitar and a lot of snare drums. However, the two albums which followed her debut, Sling and Charm, leaned more towards folk-rock, and allowed her songwriting capabilities to truly shine. Yet, many fans were disappointed with this sound which felt like a 180 from the direction her music had been headed previously. Critically acclaimed as they were, fans have been divided by a preference for her newer and older music. So how do artists navigate a genre switch? Or an aesthetic switch? How do they plan a live show which caters to everyone, including themselves?

 An artist who comes to mind as having been around the brand-reinvention block, so to speak, is Miley Cyrus. Going from Disney child star, to the loud raunchiness of her Bangerz era, to a rock heavy sound, and finally completing her musical orbit by returning to radio pop, Cyrus has often adapted her past work to fit her current sound. See her performance of ‘Party in The USA’ from Glastonbury 2019, in which she took a different approach to the song, and then brought out Lil Nas X to sing ‘Old Town Road’ in an eclectic combination of rock, country, and a reminder of the era of that track’s musical domination, which I had so nearly succeeded in forgetting about entirely.

 However, fans in the Glastonbury crowd seemed to enjoy the track’s rock rendition, which would suggest the most important part of a genre switch is to be convincing. Beyonce had the world and the recording academy wrapped in her lasso with Cowboy Carter, and Lana Del Rey is also set to release a country album (…at some point). The decision to explore uncharted musical territory is about the execution, because fans will usually follow with gleeful support.

 Change is necessary for artists to grow, develop, and expand their skill set. Clairo herself took up playing various wind instruments, which eventually featured on her second and third records – but there are still fans among us who will long for an artist’s ‘old stuff’. Perhaps it’s simply the nostalgia factor which contributes to this opinion, or a newfound disliking for who the artist is now perceived to be by the public, à la ‘the old Taylor is dead’. Some may argue that familiarising yourself with an artist’s catalogue is necessary preparation for attending their concert, and I do agree that this is important for making the experience better for both fan and performer. This was evident at Clairo’s Glasgow gig, as the volume of the crowd differed greatly between her older and newer songs. Yet, the loudest cheers of the evening occurred when she played the song ‘Steeeam’, which was released by the band Shelly -- a collaborative project that Clairo was part of along with artist Claud in 2020. 

This would suggest that genre switching can be ultimately beneficial for artists like Clairo, who likely began to feel limited by the indie rock sound she established for herself as a teenager. Fans who are invested enough to know deep cuts care deeply about the artist and will respect the creative decisions they make. For Clairo, fusing 70s saxophone and bedroom pop synth may just be “second nature.”