Growing Up | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 8, 2022 | |||
Recorded | June 11 – October 25, 2021 | |||
Studio | Music Friends, Los Angeles | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 25:35 | |||
Language | English, Spanish, Japanese (bonus edition) | |||
Label | Epitaph | |||
Producer | Carlos de la Garza | |||
The Linda Lindas chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Growing Up | ||||
Growing Up is the debut studio album by the American rock band The Linda Lindas, released on April 8, 2022, by Epitaph Records.[3] It was produced by Carlos de la Garza, the father of band members Lucia and Mila de la Garza. Recording sessions for Growing Up took place at Music Friends in Los Angeles, California, from June to October 2021.[4]
In January 2018, Eloise Wong's father Martin Wong was contacted by an acquaintance, asking if she would be interested in playing alongside Kristin Kontrol and a bunch of "inexperienced kids" for a performance at a music festival called Girlschool LA,[5] after seeing pictures and videos of her singing at Save Music in Chinatown. Martin then suggested Lucia and Mila de la Garza, daughters of his sister Angelyn Wong and brother-in-law Carlos de la Garza, since the three of them often sang, danced and performed together since they were toddlers; Carlos, who owned a backyard studio, took up the position of a second coach. After Kontrol recruited more children through social media and the first round of rehearsals were held, Angelyn and Martin's wife Wendy Lau reached out to the girls' family friend Bela Salazar, who was taking guitar lessons, to join in, thinking that they needed someone who could play an instrument.[6] Originally, it was intended to be a one-off project, but a few months later, Salazar was invited to open a show for Frieda's Roses, and engaged Eloise, Lucia and Mila to be her backing band.[7]
Feeling that the band needed a name, Martin, who had bought a DVD of 2005 Japanese film Linda Linda Linda,[8] (in turn named after the Blue Hearts song "Linda Linda"[9]), suggested The Linda Lindas, feeling that it "sounded like a band from the '50s but could also refer to the Japanese punk song or art movie, or simply mean 'really pretty' in Spanish", to which the girls agreed.[7] By fall, they were playing Save Music in Chinatown matinee gigs alongside artists such as Phranc, the Dils, the Gears, and the Alley Cats, and other shows with bands such as Best Coast, Alice Bag, and Bleached.
After Amy Poehler watched the Linda Lindas open for Bikini Kill on April 26, 2019, at the Hollywood Palladium, she had them record songs for her film Moxie.[10] In 2020, the Linda Lindas wrote a song for Netflix documentary The Claudia Kishi Club, titled "Claudia Kishi", after the Japanese-American character in Ann M. Martin's novel series The Baby-Sitters Club.[11][12]Growing Up consists of 10 standard songs and a cover of the Blue Hearts' Japanese-language song "Linda Linda" on the bonus edition. The Linda Lindas split songwriting duties, with each member contributing to the writing.
The album is centered on themes of growing up, discovering oneself,[19] and anxieties that arise in adolescence.[20] The first song, "Oh!" is about feeling unheard.[21] Rolling Stone editor Lisa Tozzi says the title track "celebrates the intense friendships [...] and simple pleasures of youth, but also nods to the very normal desire to speed through the scary and awkward parts of adolescence"[21] The song "Talking to Myself" has been described as an "anxiety spiral",[20] however, the lyrics still have hope.[19] The song "Nino" was written about Bela Salazar's cat. She had previously written a song about her cat, Monica, which appeared in the Linda Lindas' eponymous EP (2020).[22] Feeling that Nino "wouldn’t leave her alone until he got a song too",[23] Salazar wrote the song "Nino" for him.[24] The Spanish-language "Cuántas Veces", while centered around feeling left out, also has a theme of acceptance.[19] The anti-racist song "Racist, Sexist Boy" was written about an encounter Mila de la Garza had with a boy at school.[25]
The album's genre has been classified as punk rock,[a] pop-punk,[20] and power pop.[27] Critics have compared the album's sound to riot grrrl, such as The Skinny editor Tony Inglis who says that it "channel[s] riot grrrl fury and the kind of catchy garage pop melodies the Pixies haven’t written since the 90s".[29]
The cover artwork, photographed by Zen Sekizawa, features paper dolls designed by Eloise Salazar, the band's bassist. Salazar cut the dolls freehand, intending for them to appear like the band members as cats.[30] Sekizawa later "spent hours" creating the lighting for the cover.[31]
Cutouts resembling those on the album cover are included as an insert for the vinyl pressings of the album.[31]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 7.8[32] |
Metacritic | 80/100[33] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [34] |
DIY | [35] |
Exclaim! | 8/10[28] |
Kerrang! | 4/5[26] |
Pitchfork | 8.0/10[20] |
Punknews.org | [36] |
Robert Christgau | [37] |
The Skinny | [29] |
Sputnikmusic | 3.5/5[38] |
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Growing Up received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 from 10 critic scores.[33] Jake Richardson at Kerrang! calls Growing Up "a thoroughly enjoyable debut album that promises much more is yet to come."[26] The Skinny editor Tony Inglis calls it "a light-of-foot album of fun riffs and effectively simple ideas."[29] Critic Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star honorable mention (), describing the album as "eleven-and-over Hispanic-Asian girlpunk foursome get down to bizness [sic]" and citing "Racist, Sexist Boy", "Fine", and "Nino" as highlights.[37] Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic calls the album a "ridiculously catchy burst of wide-eyed, youthful anthems".[34] DIY editor Ben Tipple comments, "with debut full-length ‘Growing Up’ they easily cement themselves as far more than a viral moment, pairing political and social charge with a suitably playful charm."[35]
In 2022, Good Morning America ranked Growing Up as number 38 on their list, "50 best albums of 2022."[39] Kerrang! rated it number 48 on a similar list,[40] while No Ripcord rated it as number 34.[41]
Publication | Country | Accolade | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Alternative Press | US | The 55 best albums of 2022[42] | * |
Billboard | US | The 50 best albums of 2022 so far[43] | * |
Good Morning America | US | 50 best albums of 2022[39] | 38 |
Kerrang! | UK | The 50 best albums of 2022[40] | 48 |
No Ripcord | UK | The 50 best albums of 2022[41] | 34 |
(*) denotes an unranked list |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Oh!" | The Linda Lindas | 2:35 |
2. | "Growing Up" | Lucia de la Garza | 3:06 |
3. | "Talking to Myself" | Mila de la Garza | 2:22 |
4. | "Fine" | Eloise Wong | 2:02 |
5. | "Nino" | Bela Salazar | 1:49 |
6. | "Why" | Wong | 2:19 |
7. | "Cuántas Veces" | Salazar | 3:13 |
8. | "Remember" | L. Garza | 3:39 |
9. | "Magic" |
| 2:36 |
10. | "Racist, Sexist Boy" |
| 1:49 |
Total length: | 25:35 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
11. | "Linda Linda" | Hiroto Kōmoto | 2:34 |
Total length: | 28:09 |
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Growing Up.[4]
The Linda Lindas
Additional musicians
Technical personnel
Packaging
Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
---|---|---|---|---|
World | April 8, 2022 | Epitaph | Digital download | — |
May 17, 2023[45] | Digital download (bonus edition) | |||
United States | April 8, 2022 | CD, LP | 87875[34] | |
Japan | June 3, 2022 | CD | STCD-0004[46] | |
Europe | Epitaph Europe | 7875-2[47] | ||
June 24, 2022 | LP | 7875-1[48] |
Chart (2022) | Peak position |
---|---|
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[49] | 49 |
Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[50] | 92 |
Scottish Albums (OCC)[51] | 54 |