COVID was both a difficult and interesting time for musicians. It was tough to get your music promoted or to even create any and it was pretty much impossible to perform safely. However, it also created a whole host of topics to write about, as discussed in the wonderful DIY punk song ‘Miss The World’ from Sydney quartet Body Type. A track released in February in build up to their upcoming album ‘Expired Candy’.
Starting off with drums that are reminiscent of a Gwen Stefani song and a catchy lead guitar riff, ‘Miss The World’ immediately packs a punch with a second guitar used to layer the song and build the rhythm up. The bass comes in at the same time, however it is much more noticeable when the vocals join the song. For the majority of the verse the instrumentation changes, until the second section of the verse where the lead guitar plays a much more simple section before leading into a heavier chorus, where the instrumentation then goes back to normal. The third verse also has an instrumentation change where both the bass and lead guitar only play after a lyric has finished. This changes in the fourth verse where it also reverts back to normal. These changes are what keeps the song interesting.
The bridge is the most interesting section to me, as it is when the guitar and vocals are the biggest focus as the drums drop down to nothing but a kick drum, which creates a build in the song. It allows for the entire single to reach a cohesive and rewarding climax when every dynamic section of this instrumentation comes together to create a rebellion against the whole world.
My favourite part of the song however, are the lyrics and the vocal melody that’s evocative of bands like Hole. It manages to be incredibly catchy while still relaying the level of anger that is necessary for the meaning of the song, which Sophie McComish (guitarist and vocalist) discusses by saying “yeah, on face value this is a COVID song. But more than that, it’s an ode to the realisations, personal and collective, that occurred during that time. Realisations about society, culture, values, the things that matter, the parts we play. At the end of the day, the world is totally absurd and many things make very little sense when you think about them too hard. But we gotta squeeze these little brains of ours and do the thinking, realise the realisations. Complacency is dangerous, passion is contagious”.
The entire song was such an interesting take on the type of music to come from COVID, discussing what you have realised about the outside instead of focusing on the inside was a genius way to acknowledge the virus. It was also an amazing show of Body Type’s writing skills as they discussed all of these realisations through the lenses of preteen anarchists. As a whole the song is wonderfully put together and is so fantastic to listen to, I can only hope the rest of their album is as masterfully crafted as ‘Miss The World’.