A defiant single, ‘Be A Big Girl’, marks the return of Dublin’s Pillow Queens this September. This anthemic, grungy indie-rock track interrogates and challenges what it means to be told ‘Be A Big Girl’ and reclaims the phrase to take on an empowering meaning.

Following on from their previous albums ‘In Waiting’ (2020), ‘Leave The Light On’ (2022), and ‘Name Your Sorrow’ (2024), ‘Be A Big Girl’ offers an exciting advance for Pillow Queens as they develop their sound and make themselves heard.

The track opens with and is driven by a powerful beat and rhythmic, crescendoing guitar, leaving no doubt that the band are back and fighting. They perfectly blend indie-rock, punk and pop influences to create a catchy but commanding track. With punchy, repetitive vocals, the sound itself feels resistant and forceful. These vocals emphasise the way women and girls are belittled to be a “girl, girl, girl”, yet Pillow Queens resist any form of belittlement and are instead assertive, strong and assured throughout. They sing “your parting gift was to make me smaller” and “you, you, you never showed me / all the love you said that you owed me” – there is a vulnerability in their verses that is equally deliberate and direct in calling out reductive or hypocritical behaviour toward women and refusing to accept less than what they deserve. This vulnerability is dominated by overcoming and resisting such behaviour, and the anger that underscores the track is simultaneously explosive and completely under control.

Where the phrase ‘Be A Big Girl’ might be said to reduce women and restrict them into contained, apologetic boxes, or demand that they stay quiet and accept their lot, it here means taking up space, refusing to “sit still”, knowing your worth and speaking out.

 

Emily Sanderson

Image: Zoe Ardiff

 

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