GIRLI: “THERE’S SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR AN ENTIRE TOUR BEING RUN BY FEMME-IDENTIFYING PEOPLE”
Ahead of her 2023 US and European tour, the inimitable pop artist girli joined VOCAL GIRLS for an Instagram takeover and digital Q&A.
Since entering the music industry aged 17, Milly Toomey - aka girli - has audaciously championed marginalised creatives. From using an all female and non-binary tour crew to podcasting with other queer musicians, the now 24-year-old artist yearns to empower her peers. Sonically, she’s swept through different eras and has tackled a range of subjects, having previously written about queer love in 2021’s ‘More Than a Friend’ and youthful angst in 2019’s ‘Deal With It’. Currently, girli’s work grapples with mental health, and her most recent release ‘I Really F**ked It Up’ unashamedly documents her therapy journey. Speaking to VOCAL GIRLS via Instagram, Toomey answered our questions about the queer community, her inspirations, and her unapologetic approach to music.
Your last tour used an all female and non-binary crew, why was doing this so important to you?
Representation is so important to me; I think it’s something that’s really lacking in live music. I always knew that I wanted my whole crew to be women and non-binary folk - I think it changes the whole vibe because it removes this sense of masculinity from a tour. There’s nothing wrong with masculinity, but I think there’s something to be said for an entire tour being run by femme-identifying people; it’s just really empowering, and that’s how I want my tours to be run.
You’ve also worked really closely with female and LGBTQ+ artists, particularly on your podcast). Can you tell us about the work you do with these communities?
I’m a woman, I’m LGBTQ+, and I just find those communities to be so inspiring. There’s so many badass women and so many badass LGBTQ+ people making music: I want to talk to them; I want to collaborate with them; I want them on my podcast; I want to make music with them. They’re the communities I’m most inspired by and it brings me a lot of joy and creative inspiration to work with them.
‘More Than a Friend’ was a viral TikTok anthem - how did it feel watching people express their queer identities using your song?
It was amazing to see people find that song and relate it to their own coming out stories, their own queer love stories, their own crush, or their own best friend who they’ve always been in love with. It was really amazing to see people connecting with that song because it [came] from such a raw place for me. It’s a queer anthem, it’s a queer love song, and for that to blow up was really special.
You’ve spoken a lot about your love for Tegan and Sara, but who are your current queer music icons?
I’m really loving MUNA at the moment. I’m also really loving 070 Shake and Janelle Monae, and Perfume Genius is incredible. There’s so many - too many to name, but those are some people I’m smashing out. Also Tove Lo - she’s always an icon to me.
‘I Really F**ked It Up’ unapologetically discusses mental health and therapy. How do you think music can be used to break down the stigma around these topics?
Music has always been my go-to for coping with shitty mental health as an artist, [and] I think it’s also a huge escape for people listening. For me, it’s always been super important to talk about mental health and therapy in my music because I hope people will [think]: ‘oh, girli’s in therapy, well I can do that’, or ‘girli’s experiencing these things - that makes me feel less alone’.
Finally, what’s your biggest piece of advice for queer and marginalised people in the music industry?
Find your people. [Find] the queer communities making music, the marginalised communities making music; there are so many people in the industry who you might not see represented all the time in the mainstream media, but they’re there. We’re here, we’re queer - find your team, find your people. Queer music fans are the best music fans in the world, so I think there’s a huge space and community for that.