The first image I imagined when I heard Slayyyter’s “brand new chanel$” was the credits rolling in a film about her meteoric summer.
“brand new chanel$" is the literal inverse of her WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA lead single, "BEAT UP CHANEL$," part of a forthcoming sister project that reimagines and flips tracks from her major label breakout debut.
Whereas "BEAT UP CHANEL$" pairs a pounding, punk-ish verse with an electroclash chorus, its sister single (released today, July 31) is all lights and sparkles, at least sonically. Its lyrics are filled with melancholy as Slayyyter sings about being cheated on with straightforwardness and clarity: "Tell me why'd you ever bring her / In my home while I was so far away." Most notably, the music itself is pure millennial optimism: layers of washed-out synths, live drums, and stacked ethereal chants. There's an absolutely huge and haunting synth line in its chorus that feels almost Hans Zimmer-esque in its emotional severity.
The lyric's image of a lover taking advantage of Slayyyter's absence hits especially hard, given that this story, more or less actually happened. In an interview with Owen Thiele, she discussed finding out about her partner's infidelity days before her massive Coachella performance.
But beyond the song's personal resonance in Slayyyter's own life, there's a bigger story lurking about the whiplash of fame more broadly. Slayyyter herself is suddenly busier than ever, with a sold out tour, a sister project in the making, and press galore. The overwhelm and isolation of such sudden and extreme fame, after a near-decade in the pop underground, is likely both thrilling and a surefire path to disassociation. The cheating of this song thus feels both literal and broadly emotionally pertinent — it's an example that proves the nagging sense that one's own small life is crumbling as the fireworks of pop stardom grow brighter.
Kait Muro.
That said, even as the song expresses real pain, it does feel ultimately deeply triumphant. Because even as the heart ache deepens, and the synths blare louder, Slayyyter lands on a line in the song that evokes the ethos of the famous "girl who's going to be okay" meme. She sings: "Know what you do / I see how you move / But I'm here standing still."
We don't know if she's devastated or furious or over it, or if she's simple everything in between. What's most importance is the fact of her remaining. It feels like a sob after a stadium show, collapsing onto the bed with gratitude and overwhelm. It's going to be okay, but it's still a lot.
