FLTY BRGR GRL
We’ve been swooning over Norwegian duo FLTY BRGR GRL since we first got wind of their second single, “Slowdance,” back in the early days of the pandemic. The catchy, mid-tempo ballad, which details a budding dance floor crush, perfectly captures a certain kind of youthful puppy love that so many of us have experienced. Their words describe this relatable phenomenon quite well, but the accompanying music helped to squeeze even more nostalgia out of them. The guitars have that wistful, dreamy quality to them, and the slight reverb on their vocals triggered further memories of dancefloor crushes.
The songwriting duo of Sarah (backing vocals, guitar) and Beatrix (vocals and bass) don’t stray too far away from the topic of love in their music. Their songs revolve around crushing hard, heartache as an extension of unrequited love, and fantasies of the perfect romance.
But fast forward three years and FLTY BRGR GRL has an excellent full-length to their name with a second one on the way, where they’re poised to take things even further. Last month, they shared the album’s first offering, “Miserable,” which builds on the thematic foundations of love present in their prior releases. While it still exists in the thematic universe of love and relationships, unlike many of their other songs, this track is more focused on the painful aftermath. “Miserable” explores feelings of anger without hesitation or sugarcoating. It primarily chronicles the period following a breakup where sadness transforms into resentment, and the desire for your former significant other to feel the same kind of agony.
We recently caught up with Sarah and Beatrix to chat about “Miserable,” their forthcoming album Happily Ever Never, and more:
Happy New Year! How’s everything going? What have you been up to since the release of your awesome debut full-length, Love You Forever?
Happy New Year! We have been playing a bunch of concerts and last year we were even lucky enough to do some gigs outside of Norway; in Stockholm, Umeå, and Copenhagen. We have also been working on our next album, and we traveled to Berlin to work intensely on the songs for a week. Very Eat, pray, love - except it was Eat, play, sleep.
Your new song “Miserable” sounds excellent. How’d it come to be?
Thank you so much! When I (Beatrix) first started working on the song I almost didn’t share it with Sarah. I only had the intro and the first verse and thought it wasn’t good enough. On some level, I must have felt embarrassed. But Sarah was like «nah, it’s awesome, let’s work on it».
This is probably the song that took the longest time to finish, but we’re very happy that we didn’t give up on it. When the demo was finally ready, we took it to the studio to record it with our producer Marcus Anthony Calvert, who happens to be Sarah’s brother. He created a safe space for us, and we honestly had so much fun. By the end of it, we were dancing.
The lyrics are very personal. Did a specific experience inspire them? Tell us about them.
Yeah, so this is probably why I must have felt embarrassed, because it is very personal indeed, which means it must have felt revealing.
After my very first heartbreak, I felt hurt and anger, but I didn’t feel like I was allowed to express that anger. It’s almost as though expressing «negative» emotions after a breakup is perceived as being petty. So you end up pretending that you’re doing fine, and that you only wish the other person the best, even though deep down you’re thinking «I hope you’re miserable too».
Honestly, feeling anger after a breakup is normal, healthy even! It leads the way to all the other emotions one needs to feel. So you’re not doing anyone a favor by repressing it. Working with this song helped me express what I hadn’t been able to do earlier, and damn it, it felt good!
How’d you come up with the concept for the video? What was it like shooting it?
We wanted to capture the attitude of the song and thought breaking and smashing stuff would be very suitable. It was surprisingly exhausting to smash loads of things with heavy wrences and bats, whilst screaming our lungs out. However, we do think that it must have had a therapeutic effect because we felt calmer afterward.
We were lucky enough to get Vibeke Heide who is a talented director to shoot, direct and edit the music video. She also made sure that we didn’t accidentally hit each other.
“Miserable” will appear on your next album, Happily Ever Never. What can people expect and how would you compare it to Love You Forever? The titles seem to be in stark contrast!
Our upcoming album has emotional highs and lows. We like to say that it’s sad girl meets angry girl meets flirty girl, and she’s confused but also empowered. Love You Forever was perhaps more naive and cute, whilst Happily Ever Never is rawer and explores the multiple stages after a breakup.
Are there any other singles and/or videos in the works leading up to the release of Happily Ever Never?
We’re releasing two more singles with videos (“Caprisun and “Break My Heart”), and the album is set to be released in September.
What are your plans for 2023?
We’ll be touring in Norway, but we’re also hoping we can make our way out your way, that would be fun!
You can watch the video for “Miserable” below! The song, along with the rest of their catalog, is also available on all streaming platforms. Keep up with the band by following them on Instagram.
