In the darkness of my bedroom aglow with my purple LED strip lights, eighth grade me and my best friend danced to Beach Bunny’s “Prom Queen”. It was the first time that I had heard them, and their music about body image, femininity, relationships, and identity soon proved to be extremely influential to me growing up. I have since seen them perform twice: once at Lollapalooza in 2022 and also at the music festival that they organized at Chicago’s Salt Shed, Pool Party, in 2023. Their empowering, upbeat, and emotional pop rock has never disappointed in their performances and releases.
“Vertigo” is Beach Bunny’s latest single: a bouncing, pop-injected track that is one of their catchiest and most musically well-done songs yet. From the beginning of the track, listeners are instantly thrown into an uptempo, guitar-driven blend of indie, rock, and pop that covers self-sabotage and persistent jealousy that never seems to fade away. As vocalist Lilo Trifilo sings, “I thought when I was older, I would be on top / I thought the jealousy would drop / But it never stops,” she explores the poignant idea that despite the passage of time, change does not always happen as easily as we may wish. She is “protecting [herself] from emotional healing,” as she “mix[es] love and loss,” resulting in the realization echoed throughout the song. She has been preventing herself from reaching the state of peace and connection that she longs for. The contrast between the word “protection” and the fact that the thing that she is avoiding is “emotional healing” compellingly portrays the complicated duality that she holds regarding relationships and herself.
"I thought when I was older, I would be on top / I thought the jealousy would drop / But it never stops”
When speaking about the single, Trifilo explained that she wrote the song on an airplane: “I wrote [“Vertigo”]… in my head and tried to demo it in the bathroom very sneakily, but airplane bathrooms are super loud. So as to not forget how it went since the audio was trash, I sang it in my head for the entire duration of a 4-hour flight.”
The origins of the track are reflected in the lyrics. The song opens with, “Waiting in the airport lost and found,” and continues to explore the airport-related imagery as Trifilo sings, “Got a lot of baggage in my mind / Pick a pretty package, see what's still left inside.”
“Got a lot of baggage in my mind / Pick a pretty package, see what's still left inside”
“Vertigo” is Beach Bunny’s first release since their album Emotional Creature in 2022. Though they have not revealed anything regarding future new music, this single is a positive sign for the group moving forward. I personally look forward to hearing more from this effervescent band, and the future is surely looking bright.
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