Music
EXCLUSIVE: Sizzy Rocket Gets Bi-Curious in ‘Bestie’
Written about a real encounter with her bff, ‘Bestie’ subverts the male gaze by taking it by the horns.
June 02 2015 6:00 AM EST
November 04 2024 11:24 AM EST
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Written about a real encounter with her bff, ‘Bestie’ subverts the male gaze by taking it by the horns.
We've all had that moment: you look over at your best friend, maybe after a few drinks, and thought "let's do this." Up-and-coming indie pop goddess Sizzy Rocket knows how you feel.
The Las Vegas native, who features on Flosstradamus's "Don't Trip," went viral last year with her cover of Beastie Boys classic "Girls." Rocket repositioned the track--easily one of the most misogynistic songs of the 1980s, and that's saying something--and turned it into a feminist anthem.
"I thought, I could really flip this with a strong and really empowering angle for a young girls," Rocket told the Huffing Postregarding the track.
Rocket and producer Matt Squire swapped out the Beasties' bouncy up-tempo beat for a hazy, chilled out one and reworked the lyrics. The track, once the lyrical translation of the male gaze, became one about the societal pressures of being a woman.
In "Bestie," Sizzy's once again taken on the male gaze and flipped the script.
"'Bestie' is a tricky one because instead of fighting the male gaze and pointing to it, I chose to embody it," Rocket told Paper. "I love the idea of the American man, that masculinity, that machismo. There's a very intense masculine side to my art and I love taking on roles in my songs that are usually reserved only for men -- the kingpin, the heartbreaker, the CEO, the rockstar, and in this case, the womanizer."
"I think 'Bestie' in particular sheds light on the specific issue you mentioned by making a parody of the male gaze and applying it to my own girl-on-girl situation."
Written about an actual tryst with her own best friend, "Bestie" posits Sizzy as the womanizer making a move. Confident, cool, and taking what she wants, Sizzy's not lezzing out for the boys, she's doing it for her.
Compare it to the most famous girl-on-girl track to come out in recent memory, Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl." From the lyrics to the video, it's clear that Perry's hoping to hook straight male listeners with a cliched dude fantasy. Perry plays off kissing a girl as some happy accident; Rocket does it because she's turned on and wants to get some.
Tongue-in-cheek, with an OTT 80s aerobics video vibe and playful use of phallic and yonic shaped fruit, Sizzy Rocket takes a genuine moment of queer experimentation and portrays it not as a titillating show for the guys, but as an instance of a woman taking control of her sexuality for herself. If this is what we can expect from Sizzy, then her EP will be a must-buy.