boygenius

What began as a "pipe dream" conversation between friends evolved into one of the most celebrated indie rock collaborations of the decade. Boygenius, the supergroup consisting of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, formed in 2018 not just to make music together, but to actively reject the music industry's tendency to pit women artists against each other.

The three singer-songwriters had crossed paths repeatedly in the indie scene, with both Dacus and Bridgers opening for Baker on separate tours in 2016. Despite their different musical styles, they found themselves constantly compared as "women in rock"—a label they collectively rejected. As Dacus pointedly observed, being women in music "should not be remarkable whatsoever," while Bridgers emphasized that gender "is not a genre."

Their collaborative process proved as organic as their friendship. Meeting in summer 2018 with plans to record just a single for their upcoming co-headlining tour, the trio instead found themselves overwhelmed with creative ideas. In just four days, they wrote, recorded, and self-produced their self-titled debut EP, with each member contributing one complete song and one unfinished idea to the project.

The Boygenius EP received universal critical acclaim upon its October 2018 release, earning recognition as the 12th best album of the year by NPR Music despite being just an EP. Their subsequent tour took them across the United States and onto prestigious stages like Late Night with Seth Meyers and NPR's Tiny Desk series.

After a hiatus during which the members continued collaborating on each other's solo projects, Boygenius returned in 2023 with The Record, their highly anticipated debut studio album. Recorded at Shangri-La in Malibu and released in March 2023, the album proved both a critical and commercial triumph, topping charts in the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands while reaching number four on the US Billboard 200.

The album's success was accompanied by innovative visual storytelling, with actress Kristen Stewart directing three music videos that were combined into a promotional short film called The Film. Singles like "Not Strong Enough," "Emily I'm Sorry," and "Cool About It" showcased the group's evolution while maintaining their signature blend of indie rock, folk rock, and indie folk sensibilities.

Boygenius embarked on an international tour dubbed "The Tour," featuring special guests including Carly Rae Jepsen and Broken Social Scene. The tour proved so successful that Bridgers declared it "100 percent" the greatest tour any of them had experienced, with the band having only one bad day throughout the entire run.

Their achievements culminated at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, where they won three awards including Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rock Performance for "Not Strong Enough." They also claimed a Brit Award for International Group, cementing their status as a global phenomenon.

The band's name itself reflects their collaborative philosophy. Originally conceived as a joke to counter the "boy genius" trope—the overconfident male artist archetype they had all encountered—the name became a rallying cry in the studio. When self-doubt crept in, they would encourage each other to "be the boy genius" and trust that every creative thought had value.

In February 2024, during a secret show in Los Angeles, Boygenius announced an indefinite hiatus "for the foreseeable future." While Baker clarified it wasn't ending "ever," the announcement marked the end of an era for a group that had redefined what collaboration could look like in the indie music world. Their legacy remains not just in their award-winning music, but in their demonstration that artists can support rather than compete with one another, creating something beautiful through genuine friendship and mutual respect.