The track marks the band’s first new music since 2021
Jack Antonoff and Bleachers are back with a new song, “Modern Girl,” marking their first new song since 2021.
The track is quintessential Bleachers, with its distinctly 21st century, anxious energy paired with heart-on-sleeve E Street nostalgia. There are gang vocals on the chorus, tributes to New Jersey, a little glockenspiel, self-referential band shout-outs, and you better believe the bridge is an instrumental breakdown and rave-up filled with “woah-oh-oh”’s and dueling saxophones.
“Modern Girl” also arrives with a music video, directed by Alex Lockett, which captures a boisterous performance from the band. The video’s through line appears to be a tomato (another Jersey reference?) rolling around the rehearsal space, avoiding an inevitable squish until the song ends and Antonoff finally steps on it.
“Modern Girl” is Bleachers’ first new music since 2021, when they released their third album, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night. It does arrive, however, on the heels of a new live album, Live at Radio City Music Hall, which was released at the end of August and captured Bleachers’ July 2022 concert at the New York City venue. Both Live at Radio City and “Modern Girl” are Bleachers’ first releases since signing to the indie label Dirty Hit, best known as the home of recent Antonoff collaborators, the 1975.
Antonoff has, of course, been plenty busy in the two years since Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night. Along with the 1975, he worked on recent albums from Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and even Del Rey’s father, Rob Grant. He also produced Maren Morris’ recent song, “Get the Hell Out of Here.”