Formed in Guildford before basking themselves in Oxfordshire, the group consists of Harmony Cavelle (vocals), Harry Winks (guitar), Ollie Green (bass guitar), and Cody Jones (drums). Fusing Cavelle's Gwen Stefani-esque vocals atop slamming bass and drums reminiscent of Limp Bizkit, theirs is a sound that clearly strikes a chord with young listeners. Only forming in 2021, the group has amassed a large following very, very. quickly, generating over 480,000 followers on Instagram and 22 million likes on TikTok. Their rise can only be described as meteoric, with their nostalgic sound clearly doing something right with the online masses.
'Superman' is a bratty pop-pock slammer, capturing feelings of uncontrollable frustration and social exhaustion. Cavelle whines, "Cause I don't wanna save the day even though I can / So give this little red cape back to Superman", her attitude placing her amongst other iconic angsty female vocalists such as Avril Lavigne, Hayley Williams and, as mentioned previously, Gwen Stefani.
During a time when vivacious female-fronted groups are becoming more and more popular (such as Amyl and the Sniffers, Lambrini Girlz, and Wolf Alice), South Arcade has established themselves in the ranks as ones to watch. They will be playing at Download Festival this year, so if you've already got a ticket, you'll be lucky enough to catch them there.
Listen to 'Superman' below!
Megan FitzGerald
Image: 'Superman' Official Single Cover