MUNA might be from Los Angeles, but their new single feels imported straight from the Wild West. The indie pop trio has shared “Kind of Girl,” the latest cut from their forthcoming self-titled album, as well as a tongue-in-cheek music video.
On “Kind of Girl,” MUNA swap out their usual synths for a down-home country twang. While the track won’t make you two-step, it’s a poignant, sweeping ballad about self-acceptance that might conjure a few tears: “I could get up tomorrow/ Talk to myself real gentle /Work in the garden/ Go out and meet somebody/ Who actually likes me for me/ And this time I’ll let them,” vocalist Katie Gavin sings.
“This song explores the power of language and the words we use to describe who we are and who we want to be,” Gavin writes in a press release. “Even though it is a happy, hopeful song, I shed the most tears of the record in the vocal booth recording this chorus. I think there’s something very vulnerable about plainly expressing my desire to be kinder to myself and comfortable receiving love (and my desire to garden even though I kill everything I plant).”
The Taylor James-directed music video for “Kind of Girl” stars MUNA as macho cowboys, playing with the gendered nature of the song as well as each of the members’ distinct relationships with girlhood. “We as queer people are particularly vulnerable when we are sharing how we identify and how we would like to be perceived,” Gavin continues. “The experience [of filming the video] brought home the fact that it’s not enough for queer and trans people to be clear about who we are — we also need a community around us that hears us, believes us, honors us, and supports us.”
Whether you identify with the song’s messages or not, MUNA have one evergreen statement to make: “We hope the bigots absolutely hate it.” Watch the video for “Kind of Girl” below.
“Kind of Girl” follows their Phoebe Bridgers collaboration “Silk Chiffon” and “Anything But Me,” which MUNA performed on Ellen earlier this month. MUNA, the band’s third LP, is due out June 24th via Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records. The trio will also embark on MUNA next month, which you can get tickets for at Ticketmaster.
