Photos by Avery Davis / Words by Willa Rudolph
Deli Mag comes to you today to announce Brooklyn-based trans slut rock band Um, Jennifer?’s new single and music video “Glamour Girl” (via Final Girl Records), along with a Release Show at Purgatory, TONIGHT!
The gender-bending band releases “Glamour Girl” today–a track about relationship patterns. “It’s about beauty, charm, and how we delude ourselves,” Um, Jennifer tells the Deli. The lyrics and imagery that Um, Jennifer? concern themselves with emphasize the arbitrary nature of gender-based stereotypes, and do so in a playful way. Founding members are pictured above, left to right: Fig Regan (guitar, vocals) and Elijah Scarpati (vocals, drums, guitar). Both members write and compose their songs together.
The music video for “Glamour Girl” opens on Fig and a date entering a dance, after text across the screen assures us what we are about to see will be a work of fiction. A peppy drum beat and a quirky “5,6,7,8” lead us to a band on stage at said dance. “You’re wrapped up in her world / she’s your glamour girl,” the first lyrics of the song croon.
“She’s got endless eyes / filled with harrowing surprise.” The character they describe embodies a desirable girl, but one who “disregards what’s true.” Their “glamour girl” character is appealing but flawed. She seems to wrap interested parties into her confusing glare, but things aren’t what they seem. The description is a little tongue-and-cheek. You can only see what you have convinced yourself of, until the truth comes seeping out at the seams. “I can tell that you’re unwell…” the chorus concludes. Perhaps the manic-pixie-dream-girl trope fits here. Sure, you can place any identity on a “glamour girl,” especially if you’re completely entranced, and who she really is may elude you in the throws of infatuation.
“Does she make you feel / like you’re really real? / Yeah, without a doubt…” The mystery love interest has a hypnotic effect. The lyrics have seen the relationship pattern through from its start to its bitter end. “She ate me up / Spit me out / I thought she was done / But you’ve just begun. / I hope you two have fun.” as Eli gives us a cheeky wink. Do I detect some salt? Maybe a little. Relationship patterns can really be a bitch.
The video is as youthful and enjoyable and strange as the last we wrote about, “Cut Me Open”. Keep an eye out for more from Um, Jennifer? here.