VIDEO: INTERVIEW – girli Says Music Is Her Superpower, Her Songs Help Healing

In the midst of touring with alt-J on their North American tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of their debut album, An Awesome Wave, girli has released her new single, “Cheap Love.” The track is written retrospectively by girli (Milly Toomey) and explores the innocence of teen love and not being concerned about being materialistic. The song is the third single released from a forthcoming EP. Of the song, Toomey explained, “I wrote Cheap Love about my first ever relationship I was in, when I was still a teenager. It’s about being in love on a budget; not having loads of money to take each other out for expensive dinners, or even having a car to pick them up in, but it doesn’t matter because being in love makes you feel richer than anyone else. It’s a love song to love; even if you do have the money to do those things, most of the time it’s not the cash being spent that makes it special, its actually just the time you get with that person that matters the most.” The North London artist has grown a loyal fanbase that relates to the brash and honest style of her music as well as her personality. Her debut album ‘Odd One Out’ was released in 2019 and features her passion for feminism, queer representation and socio-political issues, something she continues to share and speak out about on and off-stage. “Not That Girl”, described as an anthem for women who’ve been catcalled went viral on TikTok in 2019 and quickly elevated girli’s profile. Of the experience afterwards and in feeling obligated to create for the short-video-form platform, girli shared, “it’s been quite a struggle for me because actually social media very much negatively affects my mental health and I think it affects a lot of artists and a lot of people’s mental health negatively. But I think it’s something that we feel that we have to do to promote our music especially when you’re an indie artist. It’s like okay you know, I’ve got less less money for marketing so I’ve got to use TikTok and go viral.” girli will continue touring throughout Europe in the coming months including festival appearances at Mad Cool Festival in Spain.

girli spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about how music helps her heal, gives her superpowers that give her confidence in her life, talks new music and more.

girli - Cheap Love (Official Music Video)