LOS ANGELES, CA- Guyville is back, and they’re swinging harder than ever with their blistering new single “Savior Complex”—a sharp, guitar-heavy track that leans more Weezer than Wilco. The Los Angeles-based duo, Emily Hulslander and Kat Hamilton, first made waves with their 2023 debut album Girls With Guitars, a catchy blend of ’90s alt-country and indie rock. But this time around, they’re ditching the twang in favor of distorted guitars and snarling lyrics.
“Savior Complex” still has the pop sensibilities that gave their earlier work its earworm quality, but now there’s more bite—more venom in the vocal, more attitude in the arrangement. If their debut leaned into bittersweet, this track goes full scorned-and-over-it. The track opens with a wall of whiny, fuzzy guitars before the verses hit you with lyrical stingers like, “You break my heart / you break my bed / you leave me then leave me on read.” Hamilton’s biting vocal leads bleed perfectly into Hulslander’s more weary, resigned tone: “You drain my hopes / and then you ghost / I’m stuck in a modern dating trope.”
Clearly, someone underestimated the wrong duo.
“Oh man… ‘Savior Complex’ is one of my favorites from this new batch of songs,” says Hulslander. “I was deep in a two-year situationship when Kat and I started writing. After too many teary late-night calls and ‘Can you believe he did THIS?’ moments, the frustration boiled over into a song. One of my favorite lines is: ‘You don’t wanna be your father / But that apple landed right next to the tree.’ This guy would constantly complain about how his dad treated his mom, and I could see the exact same behavior playing out with me.”
Hamilton adds, “This one just fell out of us—it felt so natural. We’ve always flirted with ’90s nostalgia, but we’ve been leaning into a more grungy, indie-rock direction lately. Don’t worry, we still love a little twang, but we’re exploring our bratty rock side a lot more. We had a playlist going with Olivia Rodrigo, Maggie Rogers, Metric, Veruca Salt—lots of powerhouse women with a bite. The goal was to keep the lyrics tongue-in-cheek and emotionally honest, but not let the production get too polished. It’s not strictly pop, not strictly grunge, but it’s definitely us.”
With its punchy chorus—”I’ve got a savior complex / you wanna save your own neck / your broken pieces never fit together / but maybe this time they will”—this breakup anthem steamrolls over the tired tropes of love and loss. It’s raw, catchy, and full of the kind of angst that belongs in a sweaty garage show with amps turned up too loud.
“Savior Complex” is out now on all streaming platforms. And if this is the first taste of what’s next for Guyville, you’ll want to keep a close eye on their socials. This ride is just getting started.
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