Boygenius helped to celebrate the return of late-night with a performance of their emotive single “Cool About It” on The Late Show. Appearing on a darkened stage in a semi-circle, the trio—Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus—gave an intimate rendition of the song as the camera swept around them.
Earlier this fall, the group debuted an animated video for “Cool About It,” which is the fifth track on their recent LP, The Record. Directed by Lauren Tsai, the clip features hauntingly gorgeous imagery, portraying the relationship between a dog and a toy with Tim Burton-esque imagery of stitched faces.
In an interview with Rolling Stone for boygenius’ January cover story, Bridgers spoke about her “Cool About It” verse, particularly the line “Once I took your medication to know what it’s like.”
“I really did,” she said. “I was seeing somebody who was on an antidepressant. It was a low point for me because there’s a part of myself that’s very impulsive, that scares me, where it feels like there’s no thoughts between having the idea to do it and action. It just feels like I have the idea and I do it. And that was one of those moments for me. It was cool to bring light to it in that song because I think it’s actually kind of funny. My verse just becomes immediately so dark, it slows down.”
The group announced their four-song EP, The Rest, last month as a follow-up to The Record, which released in March. Produced by boygenius, Tony Berg, Jake Finch, Ethan Gruska, Calvin Lauber, Collin Pastore and Marshall Vore, the short-and-sweet EP will roll out Oct. 13 with Interscope. The first track, slow-burner “Black Hole,” got its live debut during their first show at Boston’s MGM Music Hall, while the band debuted “Afraid of Heights” the following night.
Elsewhere in their cover story, the group discussed the genesis of the album and navigating their growing fame. “I don’t think that my life can change and blow up without my permission,” said Baker at the time. “I could just go play these gigs in bigger venues than I’m used to playing, and then I could just continue to go home and go help my neighbors mow their lawn.”
On Monday, Boygenius wrapped a phenomenal, headlining set at Madison Square Garden to a sold-out crowd, along with special guests Muna.