Pom Pom Squad’s anxious new “Honeysuckle” belongs on a ’90s teen drama

“If I’m nothing without you, am I anything at all?”

July 30, 2019
Pom Pom Squad’s anxious new “Honeysuckle” belongs on a ’90s teen drama Photo: Sammy Ray Nelson  

Pom Pom Squad, the Brooklyn-based indie rock band fronted by vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Mia Berrin, describe their music as ‘quiet grrrl punk’, a cute descriptor that doesn’t reveal nearly enough about the multitudes contained within. Their new single “Honeysuckle,” premiering today on The FADER, is an anxious, claustrophobic track that, with its incendiary riffs and weary vocals, would sound right at home on the soundtrack of a seminal teen classic like The O.C. or Buffy. “If I’m nothing without you, am I anything at all?” Berrin questions on the song’s refrain, a classic (and terrifying) articulation of codependency and relationship anxieties.

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"'Honeysuckle' is a song about burying myself in other people to avoid having to deal with whatever the fuck is going on with me,” Berrin tells The FADER via email. “It’s a really fun habit of mine. It’s also a song about rebuilding — identifying the wound so you can start to heal it.” Listen to “Honeysuckle” below.

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Pom Pom Squad’s anxious new “Honeysuckle” belongs on a ’90s teen drama