( 8. 3 )
When Olivia Rodrigo released her sophomore album, GUTS (no relation to the last track on this album, thank you very much), I saw a handful of people praise her for bringing riot grrrl back into the mainstream. And…look. I liked that second Olivia Rodrigo album quite a bit, way more than her debut frankly, but…she’s not riot grrrl, at least not yet. We can have the conversation that she’s helping to bring back female-led pop punk, now that Paramore is making post-punk-revival and bands like Honey Revenge have yet to truly take off. But as for being riot grrrl, I think Olivia Rodrigo has yet to hit all of the necessary qualifiers.
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s define the genre of riot grrrl. This genre is one that came about as a side effect of punk and grunge music, with its lyrics mainly tied to third and fourth-wave feminism, with these sorts of artists often also tying their records to some specific theme, one that directly combats a misogynistic trope, flipping said trope on its head in the process. If Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, a track-by-track response to The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street, is more slacker rock than it is riot grrrl, then the highest peak that this genre has ever reached is likely the Hole record Live Through This.
To my knowledge, none of the members of The Dream Ballet have ever cited either of these records as influences on their debut record Manic Pixie Dream Girl!, but I would venture to say that their influence still looms large on the final product. Exemplified by the immediately iconic album art, Live Through This directly combats the idea of Miss America or Miss Universe pageants, taking aim at misogynistic views on female autonomy in a way that ensured that, whether or not Courtney Love was the first person to tackle such a topic, she would likely forever be remembered as the best to do it.
The manic pixie dream girl, as frontwoman Brea Fournier describes it in the spoken word section on “The Masochist,” is a trope created by a male critic to criticize male writers crafting perfect, whimsical women whose sole narrative purpose is to change the life of the male protagonist. The male critic in question was Nathan Rabin, who coined the term after witnessing the writing of Kirsten Dunst’s character in the 2005 film Elizabethtown. In addition to all the straight examples of this archetype, there have also been plenty of films (such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and, though Fournier may disagree with this example, (500) Days of Summer) that have subverted and played with the archetype in new and interesting ways. That said, I don’t know that the world has ever been gifted a record that plays with the archetype in a similar way, so I’m still willing to give this points for originality. The next step is to see if The Dream Ballet can follow through on their concept.
Though Fournier technically released an early version of the penultimate track from this record on its own in early 2022, the first official single connected to the album’s rollout, released in late spring of last year, was called “Petty Stuff.” Though it’s stylistically very different from most other tracks from this record, lyrically, it immediately served as a strong feminist manifesto that instantly told you what you could expect Manic Pixie Dream Girl! to be. It’s snarky, it’s theatrical, it’s empowering, it takes aim at her ex-boyfriends, misogynists in general, and even some women who are doing their best to damage the minds and bodies of impressionable young girls (see the lyric “I liked Gwenyth Paltrow better when her head was in a box”). It’s also debatably the hardest rocker on the record (one that goes unbelievably hard in a live setting, by the way), at least in the traditional sense, with most of the album being better reflected by the neo-psychedelic style of the bridge.
That said, the lead single for this record also immediately reminded me of a band that I’m confident had some influence on this record, Green Day. Yes, partially because of the “Burnout” style drum breakdown featured in the back half of the song, but I’m more specifically referring to their 2004 record American Idiot, a rock opera about a group of anybodies being left behind by the choices made by the Bush administration in the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center. Manic Pixie Dream Girl! isn’t quite as heavy in tone as American Idiot, nor does it always stay with that style of music, but in the record’s best moments, it reflects the same sense of depression and dissatisfaction with the world and the people in it.
Arguably the very best example of this phenomenon comes in the title track and centerpiece for the record, “Manic Pixie Dream Girl.” This track, which dethrones “Teacups” as my favorite song by Fournier, is something of a slow burn that best describes the ethos of the album’s titular character. The MPDG has successfully broken out of a seemingly perfect but slightly misogynistic fictional world into one where she has a greater sense of her own autonomy and a fresh view of the world, but she has ultimately still found disillusionment in her new life (see the lyric “can’t you see that I’m numb? I’m free, but I just want to mean something to anyone”).
This is a strong, powerful message, accompanied by lyrics that flow very well and beautiful production on the lead guitar, but at first listen, I was in some ways disappointed that more of the record didn’t touch on this specific idea. That said, the song’s placement on the tracklist allows for another interpretation to be opened up. Up until “Manic Pixie Dream Girl,” the theme most frequently explored on the album, even if some moments are similarly melancholic in tone to the title track, is that of the satisfaction and punkish defiance that would come with a misogynistic archetype starting to find her way as something of a feminist icon. This can be seen on the anthemic introductory piece “Avant-Garde and Totally Unique,” a track that leads directly into the thesis-defining opening of “The Masochist,” which, itself, leads into one of the best-written sections on the entire record.
The title track is immediately followed by “Dowry,” a short, fast, and loud cut that seems to follow a shift in ideology concerning relationships and marriage (though many individual lyrics on this track carry a delightfully sarcastic tone), combatting the more bittersweet takes on the subject than is present in earlier songs in the tracklist. It doesn’t quite discuss depression in the same ways that I may have implied, but it does lead into a section of the record that has “Reality TV,” a song that’s literally called “SSRI,” a direct reference to anti-depressants, and the second official single released during the album rollout, “Nine of Swords.” Though two of these may not immediately be understood as sad, they still feel like a cooldown from the titular character’s formerly completely defiant worldview suddenly standing on very shaky ground.
“Nine of Swords,” on the other hand, is a haunting ballad that’s directly tied to feelings of deep depression, with the title referring to the tarot card that represents the poorest of poor mental health. As the story goes, “Nine of Swords” marks the fastest that Fournier wrote any song for this record, which is fascinating considering that the pure poetry found here is completely unmatched by any other song on the album. Fournier’s knack for incredible imagery mixed with gorgeous instrumentals and Queen-style harmonies in the final leg of the song combine to make for what’s likely to be the overwhelming fan favorite from Manic Pixie Dream Girl! Every individual aspect of the song, including where it is placed on the album, is perfect in its own right, but when everything is pieced together, it’s even better.
As a matter of fact, the pacing is fairly solid throughout the entire project. The plan with this record is reportedly to have it adapted into a fully realized feature-length musical, and given how the story is already laid out in this tracklist, that makes perfect sense. In sifting through the lyrics (and even the musical styles to a degree, with “Avant-Garde and Totally Unique” feeling like the type of upbeat opener with which many musicals begin), one can easily parse out at least ideas of beats. The title character breaks free from her constraints, copes in different ways with a destroyed relationship, finds very little on the other side of the rainbow, and ultimately reaches some sense of self-assurance and closure.
Aside from generally reminding me of the idea of a Broadway musical, the show that this record reminds me the most of stylistically is Jonathan Larson’s 1996 show Rent. I’ve casually brought this up to Fournier in the past, and though she claimed that she hasn’t had much experience with the show, I still feel as though its influence on this project is clear. This is partially because Larson arguably popularized the idea of a rock musical, but the recurring monologues hidden throughout the record, as well as audio of a voicemail tacked onto the beginning of “Not My Soulmate” (which I’m shocked isn’t a direct reference to the show), also remind me heavily of that musical in particular.
So far in this piece, I’ve listed a considerable amount of different bands and genres that seem to have influenced Manic Pixie Dream Girl! Mixing genres can be a neat approach if it’s done well, but the action of doing so is also supremely easy to fail at. Thankfully, rather than making it feel clunky, disjointed, or what have you, the record often feels as cohesive as you’d hope it would be. Whether we’re discussing the almost bluesy stylings of “Reality TV,” which might have been one of my favorite moments if it had a stronger and more distinct chorus, or the simple but effective indie rock track “8th Street,” the varying styles and influences enhance the overall product rather than detract from it. In this way, The Dream Ballet are jacks of all trades. Or, at the very least, most trades.
Though I struggle to call any individual moment on this record truly bad, my least favorite track by far is the country-inspired “Not My Soulmate.” This song is, stylistically, very different from every other song on the album, but that needn’t necessarily be an issue. It also isn’t an issue that it’s inspired by country music because, as opposed to the ex-boyfriend that’s immediately called out in the spoken word portion found at the beginning of the track, I have fallen backward into finding a deep love for country music within the last several years. For that matter, the sort of country ballad that Fournier attempts with this track is historically well-equipped to tackle intense emotions such as heartbreak and nostalgia, which are two topics that are present here, making for a strong follow-up to “8th Street,” which is placed directly ahead of “Not My Soulmate” on the tracklist.
The real issue with this track is that it’s by far the weakest lyrically of any moment on this album. Fournier introduces the idea of past lives, metaphysics, and the idea of being meant to be together across all universes early on in the track, but the ideas ultimately don’t feel fleshed out and are crushed underneath the weight of the unimaginative and unsupportive hook. Fournier sings the song with passion, the guitar playing and production are perfectly reminiscent of the themes and genre that the band is trying to emulate, and the song is certainly catchy while it’s on, but it ultimately barely fits within the album’s tracklist, it tells me the least about the direction that The Dream Ballet hope to take the album’s story in, and, despite being stylistically unique from the rest of the record and providing a strong thesis in the first verse, it feels the least creative of any song produced for the album.
The album ends with the acoustic ballad “Guts,” which lyrically serves as one last punch up toward the people who see the title character (and, by extension, every woman who shares similar experiences) for her body rather than the aspects of herself that should matter more. Especially within the context of the record, this ballad holds a strong message that, even if it’s cliched, works as a closing note for an album all about a woman created from a man’s fantasy learning to take control of her own life and autonomy. In reaching out for a message to any woman who’s ever been treated poorly by a man, Brea Fournier and the Dream Ballet have successfully taken the “manic pixie dream girl” label back from the writers who popularized it. Like their riot grrrl ancestors before them, they have taken a misogynistic trope and turned it into an empowering one.
At the very least, the finale is strong on paper. Behind the compelling thematic conclusion found in the lyrics is likely the weakest instrumental and composition found on the record. The problem isn’t necessarily the reliance on acoustic guitars, but what happens when the band reaches the song’s coda—which is to say, two full minutes of the line “I’m my mind, I’m not my body” repeated over and over again. The coda does slowly progress as the rest of the band joins Fournier to sing in harmony, a la “Nine of Swords,” but the trick isn’t pulled off nearly as well the second time around. One reason for this is that the finale of “Nine of Swords” has the band perform a beautiful, powerful passage found earlier in the song, in stark contrast with that of “Guts.” The other reason is that this is the last note The Dream Ballet leaves audiences hanging onto by the time the record closes out. This choice might not have been great at any point in the tracklist, but as the finale for the entire record, this coda feels anticlimactic at best.
On August 1st, 2023, Brea Fournier made her triumphant return to the Salt Lake City indie scene, when she played a set at Kilby Court. Having only heard the lead single off of the record, as the concert began, I had one primary question in my head; “But is this project better than ‘Teacups?’” “Teacups,” the final track on Fournier’s 2017 EP Breaking Free, is a perfect ten of an indie rock track, and it remains one of my favorite songs that I heard in the year that it came out. It’s perhaps not as dynamic as it could be, but the theme of a troubled but nonetheless strong relationship being supported by gorgeous metaphors and imagery, and then being tied together with punchy guitars, a killer hook, and gorgeous indie rock production made for a track that I considered an instant classic from the moment that I first heard it.
I listened to Manic Pixie Dream Girl! six times in full over the last several weeks, and with each new listen, my opinion of the album changed. I stumbled upon new readings of the text, songs I was initially lukewarm on rose considerably in my good graces, and songs I loved initially wound up feeling like some of the weakest links in the tracklist. The implication of there being any “weakest links” on this record implies that I would have reworked some songs and that it’s not a perfect album, but need it be? Even if only two or three songs on this record are better than “Teacups,” I cannot possibly deny that this record is stronger in every way than every other project that Fournier has ever released. That is exactly what I wanted to hear from her debut full-length project, and it certainly helps that Manic Pixie Dream Girl! is fairly incredible on top of that.
So, maybe this album is flawed, and perhaps some tracks do less to support the overall project than others. But for every idea that wound up not being fully fleshed out, for every chorus that doesn’t support the weight of the song, and for every individual weak lyric, this project makes up for those in other ways. Manic Pixie Dream Girl! has a potent, radiant message at its core, far more immediately memorable tracks than it has average ones, consistently fantastic instrumentals (especially from bassist Noah Rosner, whose work here is always astounding but is at its peak on “The Masochist”), wonderful presence from the band’s frontwoman, and enough creative ambition that I already can’t wait to see where The Dream Ballet goes from here. Until then, this splendid little piece of riot grrrl revivalism (and every other genre the band aims for, for that matter) will work just fine.
(A) Manic Pixie Dream Girl > Nine of Swords > Dowry > The Masochist > Petty Stuff > (B+) Reality TV > 8th Street > (B) Avant-Garde and Totally Unique > Dream Ballet > (B-) SSRI > Guts > (C+) Not My Soulmate.
“Manic Pixie Dream Girl!” by Brea Fournier & the Dream Ballet is available now on all music streaming platforms.
The Plath Sierra 