LOS ANGELES, CA- There are certain artists whose names hover in your peripheral vision for a while before you finally lock in. I had heard the name Grace Ives before, but it wasn’t until I pressed play on her new single “Stupid Bitches” that everything clicked.
The track arrives ahead of her upcoming album Girlfriend, due March 20 via Capitol Records and True Panther. It also marks her return after nearly three years away from releasing a full body of work. If “Stupid Bitches” is any indication, the hiatus was less retreat and more recalibration.
From the jump, the production snaps into focus. Co-written and produced with Grammy winner Ariel Rechtshaid and John DeBold, and mixed by Dave Fridmann, the song feels sleek but muscular. The electronic backbone pulses with intention. The verse instrumentation carries this taut, almost nervy energy, while the chorus breakdown, with its heavy bass loops, absolutely bangs. It’s not chaotic. It’s controlled. And that control feels earned.
Lyrically, Ives threads vulnerability and defiance in a way that feels both tongue in cheek and deeply personal. “God, I really played the fool / Wound myself up to curl into you,” she sings, laying out emotional self awareness without self pity. There is a quiet sting in lines like “I’m a loser with an aching touch,” but it never tips into melodrama. Instead, the hook lands with something closer to resilience.
“Stupid bitches can’t hurt me,” she repeats, reframing the pain as growth. It’s the kind of line that could read trite if you read it on a note… but when voiced with authority, it has a real sense of catharsis. When she repeatedly sings, “Doesn’t hurt me anymore,” you believe her. Not because the wound never existed, but because she has sucked it up and taken the punch.
What makes the track hit even harder is its sonic contrast. The lyrics rooted in rejection, and emotional miscalculation. The production, meanwhile, has this unyeilding confidence. That push and pull really come through for me. According to Ives, Girlfriend was created during a period of profound personal change, moving from chaos toward clarity, isolation toward connection. You can hear that shift here.
If her 2022 album Janky Star introduced her as playful and irreverent, this new era feels sharper. More expansive. More ambitious. The electronic textures are bigger, the emotional stakes … at least based on what I can glean… are more direct. It feels like an artist allowing herself to take up space, to be messy and self assured in the same breath.
And that’s what has me curious about the full record. “Stupid Bitches” does not sound like a one off experiment. It sounds like the doorway into something fully realized. If the rest of Girlfriend leans into this balance of punchy electronic production and introspectvie pop songwriting, March might deliver one of the more interesting releases of the season.
I may have been late to properly tune in. But I am tuned in now. And if this single sets the tone, this next chapter could be a real exciting one.
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April 18––Bar Le Ritz PDB––Montreal, QC
April 20––Longboat Hall––Toronto, ON
April 21––El Club––Detroit, MI
April 22––Lincoln Hall––Chicago, IL
April 23––7th Street Entry––Minneapolis, MN
April 25––The Bottleneck––Lawrence, KS
April 27––Bluebird Theater––Denver, CO
April 28––Urban Lounge––Salt Lake City, UT
April 30––Polaris Hall––Portland, OR
May 1––Neumos––Seattle, WA
May 2––Fox Cabaret––Vancouver, BC
May 5––The Independent––San Francisco, CA
May 7––Teragram Ballroom––Los Angeles, CA
May 8––Constellation Room––Santa Ana, CA
May 9––The Rebel Lounge––Phoenix, AZ
May 11––Brushy Street Commons––Austin, TX
May 12––White Oak Music Hall (Upstairs)––Houston, TX
May 13––Club Dada––Dallas, TX
May 16––The Masquerade––Atlanta, GA
May 17––Cat’s Cradle Back Room––Carrboro, NC
May 19––The Atlantis––Washington, DC
May 20––The Sinclair––Cambridge, MA
May 21––Music Hall of Williamsburg––Brooklyn, NY
June 8––Hasard Ludique––Paris, FR
June 10––Rotonde/Botanique––Brussels, BE
June 12––Kantine am Berghain––Berlin, Germany
June 16––Village Underground––London, UK
