There’s almost nothing online about Lilly Flower, and her name is almost google-proof. After writing this, I’m pretty sure the mystery is part of the plan. She’s an indie artist from North Carolina with a few songs out, one of which, called “american sweetheart” has been stuck in my head for a while. I didn’t watch the video until just now, and it’s a doozy:
This song takes a few listens to get your head around. On first listen it’s a catchy, lo fi alt rock jam. In the YouTube description, she’s added the lyrics, which include “head in the oven/ur dick in ur mouth now/american sweetheart he ate my heart out”. So there’s that.
That kind of bait and switch also happens on her latest sigle “im not hungry”. The song seems to be about dealing with an eating disorder and playing at a mukbang video, but there’s something else very disturbing going on:
There’s another cut of that video as well, the “Official Boy Cut“. It’s somehow both more and less weird than this one.
These themes are surprisingly on-brand for Lilly Flower (aka Lilly Willett). She’s been releasing music slowly for a couple of years now. She’s only got five singles out, and one is a reworking of another. Her lyrics are shockingly grim when contrasted with the saccharine vocal and sunny production.
“Leave Me Alone”, from 2023, is another example: it’s a more traditional shoegaze sound, but it seems to be written from the perspective of an abused romantic partner. Sometimes tough to distinguish in the reverb, lines like “Punch me in the face if you’d like/kick me on my side I’ll die” are shockingly clear:
Her Instagram teases an album at some point. I’m looking forward to hearing more, and if these songs are indicators, it’s going to be an addictive and difficult listen.
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