U.S. Girls is the experimental pop project of Canadian musician Meghan Remy. In the project's early days, U.S. Girls' sound was lo-fi noise with ghostly pop melodies piercing through the din. Gradually, however, the sound became more accessible, with albums like U.S. Girls On Kraak (2011) and GEM (2012) reflecting Remy's love of 60s girl-group pop, 70s glam and 80s synthpop.
Her breakthrough album, Half Free, came in 2015 upon signing with 4AD. This album cleaned up the lo-fi grime of Remy's earlier albums, dabbling in synthpop, reggae, disco, and even vaporwave. It was nominated for Best Alternative Album at Canada's 2015 Juno Awards. U.S. Girls' next album, In A Poem Unlimited, came out in 2018, becoming one of the most acclaimed albums of said year. In 2020, she released Heavy Light, which received critical acclaim as well.
Tropes related to the project:
- Capitalism Is Bad: "4 American Dollars"
- Cover Version: Covers "I Don't Have A Mind Of My Own" by B.J. Thomas, as well as "The Boy Is Mine" by Brandy and Monica.
- "Rage of Plastics" was originally performed by Simone Schmidt.
- Driven to Suicide: The narrator of "Sororal Feelings", heartbroken after her husband cheated on her with her own sisters.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Played with to queasy effect in "Telephone Play No. 1". Remy tells her friend about a dream in which her father showed her nude pictures that were taken of her as a child. She remarks "I was kinda hot stuff!"
- Keep the Home Fires Burning: "Damn That Valley" is from the point of view of a soldier's widow.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Damn That Valley" is a cheerful cod-reggae tune about a woman raging against the US government for getting her husband killed at war.
- Quite common on In A Poem Unlimited. For example, "Incidental Boogie", from the point of view of a woman victim of domestic violence.
- Non-Indicative Name: There's only one girl, and she's Canadian.
- Protest Song: "Mad as Hell" expresses Remy's disillusionment with former president Barack Obama, particularly regarding his policy on drone warfare.
- Traumatic Haircut: The video for "Sororal Feelings" features black-and-white footage of Remy getting her hair cut while alternating between a dead-eyed stare and being on the verge of tears.
- Vaporwave: "Navy and Cream" is heavily inspired by the genre.
- Woman Scorned: "Mad As Hell" is from the point of view of a wronged woman who is, well, look at the title. Of course, the man she's singing to is Barack Obama...
