The E-Girl Review: Lil Huddy releases debut single, Why Don’t We samples Smashing Pumpkins and more

In the new age of a fast-paced media cycle and viral Internet trends, the emergence of a new sub-category of alternative style is upon us! The new e-boys and e-girls are making a major splash in pop culture and music.

As a result, we’ll be covering the happenings with the scene, bringing you some of the best moments, and highlighting the latest releases.

Many have heralded in this new-age as a revival of emo. However, since this sub-culture’s base is predominately female, the stigma around it has been insurmountable. However, as alternative musician, YouTuber, and Twitch streamer Wilbur Soot has recently said: “Can you name one thing that teenage girls can like without being made fun of?” So, we’ll be reporting on what’s going on for those new to the subculture and those in the heart of it alike.

With that, let’s jump into some of the recent highlights and news that you’ll need to be aware of:

Lil Huddy releases “21st Century Vampire”

TikTok star Lil Huddy (otherwise known as Chase Hudson) has released his debut single “21 Century Vampire”. The internet sensation has been praised as one of Gen Z’s favorite e-boy icons, so it’s no surprise that his music release is full of those same emo and edgy themes that have been becoming increasingly popularized.

“21st Century Vampire” is reminiscent of ’00s rock jams such as “21 Guns” by Green Day or “I’m Just a Kid” by Simple Plan, but in a way that appeals to the next generation of kids who feel lost and alone. Hudson has explained that this is at the core message of the song, saying “It’s okay to be different. That’s the message I’m relaying. In a lot of ways, I’m a very misunderstood kid too. People don’t know the whole story or who I really am. I’ve always wanted to be my full self. Music is my way to finally show them”.

Hudson grew up around music and cites a variety of brands from blink-182 to One Direction as major musical influences. His debut single came in tandem with a music video release directed by Joseph Kahn and depicts an eerie punk world metaphoric of our modern times.

Recently, Hudson has gotten to work with emo punk-rapper and artist Machine Gun Kelly on a unique extended musical-movie experience, Downfalls High. It’s clear we’ll be seeing more from this emo legend-in-the-making for sure!

UPSAHL partners with blackbear on a special edition of hit song “Drugs”

Following extreme trending success on TikTok, UPSAHL‘s 2019 song “Drugs” has been revived and it’s for the better. This song features UPSAHL’s beautiful and pure voice backed by a smooth and mesmerizing beat. It throws you back into a party atmosphere, which we all seem to be craving here during the quarantine. However, the song is also about the dangers of escapism.

This song is one of many that has been supported and uplifted through the power of TikTok and its recent resurgence has led to UPSAHL working with some pretty amazing artists including blackbear who have added to the track and given it a whole new experience.

Why Don’t We samples Smashing Pumpkins in their song “Slow Down”

As one of three lead singles from Why Don’t We‘s recent album The Good Times and the Bad One, “Slow Down” has fans chattering about the throwback and nostalgic feel it brings. It happens that it’s as the result of a sample of the Smashing Pumpkins song “1979”.

The meat of the new single was penned and produced by the boyband themselves, which is arguably unusual for their genre. More notably, the band has made a transition to performing their music with their own instruments and has taken on a more rock-influenced tone. This transition started with the release of Ed Sheeran penned “What Am I?” and has since continued to develop and grow into a sound and experience similar to that of Youngblood era 5 Seconds of Summer.

Why Don’t We is unique in the way they came into the music scene, having begun as individual music-based social media influencers and joined together to become the current most popular American-based Gen Z boyband. While their older music is more influenced by heavily-produced bedroom pop, their latest releases seem to fall in line more with late-age One Direction including the albums Midnight Memories and Four. This change in sound is speculated to come as a result of their nearly year-long break from new releases as well as social media disappearance while they were in the process of writing.

If the band continues with this sound, we may just see the next-big pop-rock icons before our eyes.

All Time Low’s “Dear Maria, Count Me In” becomes viral TikTok trend

Even though the song is a 2007 classic, Gen Z has picked it up as a recent trend on popular social media app TikTok.

I always knew Dear Maria would be a massive TikTok song when we wrote it in 2006.

— Alex Gaskarth (@AlexGaskarth) January 13, 2021

The band has joked about the new trend, but the challenge is actually pretty cool. Toting the emo mantra “it’s not a phase, mom”, TikTok users are recounting their experiences growing up emo and in the related scenes. Additionally, they’ve demonstrated the ways in which they both have and have not change, always leading back to their roots in songs as nostalgic and notable as “Dear Maria”.

One thing is for sure: All Time Low still transcends generations, aesthetics, and musical preferences… plus, it’s definitely not a phase, mom.

“E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY LIFE!” is on track to reach 100 million streams on Spotify

Faceless YouTuber-turned-musician CORPSE (otherwise known as Corpse Husband) announced to his fans that he is expecting his top track “E-GIRLS ARE RUINING MY LIFE!” to reach 100 million streams on Spotify by February 12th. The song features rapper Savage Ga$p and parallels CORPSE’s prior release “Cat Girls Are Ruining My Life!“.

E-GIRLS is on track to hit 100M streams on Spotify in around 21 days. I normally dont care about number goals much, but that one means a lot to me because of how much I was told it’d do bad, not to do it & how much bullshit went on behind the scenes for the song to even come out

— CORPSE (@CORPSE_alt) January 23, 2021

The song was heavily backed by social media users from across platforms and helped to catapult CORPSE into the public light. Fans were drawn to the music due to the upbeat and simple beat with his unique, deep, raspy voice. The lyrics are clearly of the edgier variety with references even one to famed murderer Luka Magnotta.

Previously, he was known for reading scary stories on YouTube and is now more followed for playing Among Us on live stream with other video game streamers and his continued work on his music.

That’s The E-Girl Review! Keep up-to-date with what’s next by following us on social media and keep an eye out for the next-big-thing.