About
UPDATE! Now, every reward at $25 or higher also includes a pair of sunglasses with the Girlboy brand and Follow the Glow logo!
How cool is that? Now you can really follow the glow with a pair of these rad puppies!
When you set out to chase a dream, you can’t help but envision a dramatic journey that culminates with a heroic, inspirational victory.
You want the whole thing to be passionate and breathtaking. You want it all to be moments of vision and wild abandon and risk and breakthrough and all the stuff that makes for a really, really good story.
And then, somewhere along the way, you learn that you have to DO THE WORK, HONEY.
In the movies, the work usually gets compressed into a 90-second montage set to a fight song because Marvel knows that you and I won’t shell out $15 to watch two hours of Tony Stark troubleshooting the wire connections that make the Iron Man suit fly.
We just want to see the damn thing soar. We want the part of the story where the hard work pays off and something big happens. We want to witness A MOMENT: something that fuels our own dreams, that makes us believe our own hard work will also pay off spectacularly.
Mostly: the work is small steps. But sometimes, the journey calls for a great, big, dramatic leap. That’s the part they put in the movie: when the thing you’re doing starts to thrum. The energy vibrates. You feel it expanding and opening and right then you know you’re headed into something big.
Hi. We’re Girlboy, and we are having a moment.
Four years ago, Haley and I started our journey together. She pulled me onto a karaoke stage where “Drunk in Love” was playing so I could attempt to sing Beyoncé’s hook while she rapped Jay-Z’s verse. It could have just been another night out. But there was a spark of that special energy. The crowd thrummed a little louder. Everyone got really into it. And most importantly, Haley and I had an absolute blast.
Since then, we’ve been doing our work. We set out to blend Haley’s love of west coast rap with my whole singer/songwriter situation. I never thought I would be trying my hand at hip hop, but damn, did I ever learn to love it.
We started covering songs and putting our own spin on them. We played gigs anywhere we could get them. And in 2015, we recorded and released an entire album by ourselves.
Late Bloomers was a completely DIY project. I had never recorded and produced my own music, but I fired up my overworked Mac Mini, taught myself a few GarageBand basics, and away we went. I’m immensely proud of that record because it represents the start of a dream, and the many long hours of work we’ve undertaken to make it reality. (I also think the songs are pretty damn good, btw.)
And the work continues. While we’ve been playing the songs from Late Bloomers on stages across San Diego, we’ve also been writing new ones. Recording more covers. Taking those small steps to prepare us for the big dream.
The dream: to be a national touring band.
To transition Girlboy from our side project to our main job. To bring the deep feels, good vibes, questionable dance moves, and songs about solidarity to everyone who wants to hear them. To queer spaces across the country as we rap and sing about our experiences learning to claim our identity and take up space in communities that would have preferred we conform or quietly fade away.
We have a new full-length album of songs that we could not be more excited for you to hear. Anthems that will empower you. Goofy jams that will have you dancing. Even a ballad or two. We are calling this collection of songs Follow the Glow, and we are currently recording them in a grown-ass studio.
That’s right: we're leaving DIY behind and hiring an experienced team to help produce this project. As proud as I am that we did all the work ourselves the first time around, I’m even prouder that we are learning to collaborate with people who are really good at what they do in order to get a better result. In that spirit, we’ve enlisted the help of the talented folks at Foxhole Studios in Point Loma, CA, to make these songs the best they can be.
The difference is night and day. To hear what that means—what expert music production can do for Girlboy’s songs—compare these two different clips of our new song “The Line.” This first is the demo we produced ourselves in our little home studio.
Okay? Fine stuff, nothing to sneeze at.
Now: this second clip is what the folks at Foxhole did with it.
Can you tell why we’re so excited?!
We’ve got the MUSIC. We’ve got the MISSION. We’ve got the METHOD.
Now we need the MEANS.
We are inviting you to be our partners. To collaborate. To follow that glow with us.
We need your help. As you undoubtedly know, skilled music production ain’t cheap, nor are the manufacturing and distribution costs once you’re ready to send a new album out into the world. We are investing our own resources into making this record, but we are looking for about 150 folks to chip in and help get us across the finish line.
To say thank you, and to truly make you our collaborator in this process, we have put together 28 (!) fantastic rewards levels for you to choose from as you consider how much you want to invest in Follow the Glow. They range from standard items like early access to the music, t-shirts, and VIP backstage passes, to a bunch of the most exciting experiences we could dream up:
- A beach bonfire concert party with us this summer
- A cover song of your choice that we will arrange and record
- A chance to spend time with us in the studio and record something on the album
- A chance to star in a Girlboy music video
- A virtual game of 20 Questions you play with us
- An original song that we write and record just for you
- A private show we will play at your house for you and your friends
- And—legit—19 other things... keep reading to see them all!
We truly believe this is A MOMENT for Girlboy. Our music has never sounded better. The new songs are, if we may humbly say so, FIRE. We are making plans for our very first WEST COAST TOUR this fall, taking our songs and spirit on the road for the very first time.
We are chasing that glow—that dream of being an independent band that tours the country. Thank you for being a part of our journey, and if you’re just encountering us for the first time, welcome home, baby. We are with you, and we want our music to reflect the beautiful experiences of becoming that we all go through.
Thank you so much for helping us create this moment.
Big damn love,
Matthew and Haley
Listen to acoustic versions of two other new songs from Follow the Glow:
Let's talk rewards! We've got no fewer than 28 amazing options for you to choose from as you decide how much you want to invest.
Risks and challenges
We have a firm commitment on costs from our partners at Foxhole, and we have a detailed budget incorporating all the rewards and costs associated with completing the album. If we hit our goal, we'll be able to deliver.
The timeline of the recording process itself is the major unknown. We think we have a pretty solid schedule to finish the record by the end of July for an August release—it's already under way. But with any project, there is always the chance unforeseen circumstances could create a delay. We will stay in close communication with our backers to make sure you are kept in the loop about our progress and any changes that may happen to the timeline. Thank you!
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Help Wanted Labs
Graphic designers! We'd love some help creating rad designs for our t-shirts, posters, album art, and more. Shout us if you're interested!