Photo by Sammy Ray Nelson
Sometimes it’s really delicious to just feel a lot of feelings. Mixing punk with classic Motown, Pom Pom Squad’s latest single “Crying” highlights Mia Berrin (vocals, guitar) as the viewer and main character of her own life’s drama set within a film noir aesthetic. Between slight snarls and whines, Berrin’s emotive vocal performance breathes authenticity into a song that could just be poking fun at herself for being, as she said, “a whiny bitch,” but behind every joke their is an element of truth that still resonates. The track, while musically different, operates similarly in the way of Snail Mail’s “Pristine” — being melodramatic, even sarcastic, about a situation or emotional state, but not in a way that takes away from what feelings are at the core of the track.
Berrin also looks like she should exist in this black and white, horror-esque universe at all times. She has a watchful, knowing gaze, the classic stoic face of an old hollywood star with streaming tears down pact, and commands attention onscreen. While a departure from the more punk-leaning tracks we can typically expect from Pom Pom Squad, “Crying” shows true ingenuity in the mixing of genres, humor, and an exciting new direction for the group.
