After the success of debut EP The Calgary Tapes, Rachel Jack is back, with a slightly different sound this time around. Veering away from the soft, folk tones of her previous music, ‘Magazine Girls’ is a fun and modern pop track, challenging 21st century beauty standards. It’s sparse, tough, and an absolute pleasure to listen to.
With comical nods towards the ever changing trends of how we should look, Jack creates a relatable musical commentary on a subject that’s unfortunately, still, entirely topical and relevant. As a taste of upcoming releases, we’re excited for what’s to come. The remaining three songs from the EP, also titled Magazine Girls, are available early next year. The EP is potentially set to be a punchy and poignant release, being produced by Glasgow based DUNT.
With its alt-pop, tough electronic sound, the single gives off vibes similar to CHVRCHES and Lorde. Is a powerful single by a female artist on the deception of mainstream media and the horrifically unrealistic beauty standards in todays’ society needed? It bleeding obviously is, and Rachel Jack does just this with ‘Magazine Girls’.
Jack said on the content of her release, ‘‘Magazine Girls’ is about realising that I could never look like those girls in the beauty magazines, because on a normal day, they don’t even look like that.’ Her articulation of this serious problem is stunningly translated into her music, as she resonates with the struggle of living up to photoshopped images, a hard part of growing up that most of us are sadly familiar with.
‘Magazine Girls’ was released on the 9th of October 2020.
Main image credit: AG Wylie
This article was first published in the October 2020 issue of SNACK magazine. You can read the full magazine below on your smartphone, tablet, or pc.