GIRL GROUP

Consider the girl group. A divine feminine moment in pop culture: whether the riot grrrls of the ’90s, a sleek, honey-voiced R＆B trio, or a glam and campy, dancing quintet. But through history, she—the collective, she—has been constructed by men, made a product of the music industry machine primed for algorithms and girlboss politics. Where is the girl group’s place on the pop pedestal in today’s world? What can happen when the girl group, is girl made? That story starts in Liverpool with Katya, Maria, Thea, Mia and Lil – our Girl Group. The five women met while studying at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and have lived together (in youthful chaos and harmony, figuratively and literally) since. Katya, Thea, Maria, and Mia are all from Oslo, while Lil is the resident Yorkshire woman. They each bring their own individual sounds and a full-spectrum of sonic references, and it was their shared frustration with the music industry boy’s club that first laid the foundations for Girl Group and their exciting debut EP, starting with the name. “Girl Group” was chosen to embrace and subvert “what we think of as industry-made girl groups. It is a place where we can create a community beyond the band itself, fostering collaboration among women in music”. The intention is for every part of the creative journey to be created by women, and Girl Group have done exactly that. Their EP will drop in June, and with it will come house party gigs and live performances with “instrument stations”—meaning they swap between indifferent instruments, showcasing their many different musical skills. As well as taking inspiration from classic girl group choreography. Think Self-Esteem on the Woodsies Stage at Glasto. There is perfection in the imperfection. Girl Group are already deep in conceptualising and recording their next record in Norfolk—finding space for more tender emotions. “We’re honing in on that ‘older sister’ voice,” says Katya. “