Chosen by Monk

Two-thirds of this San Francisco shoegaze-meets-grunge pop trio – vocalist/guitarist Izzie Clark and bassist/vocalist E. Scarlett Levinson – actually met via a dating app. While they may not have worked out on the romantic front, the pair are clearly musical soulmates, as they prove on this, their second single, which delivers a massive “f**k you” to that tiny but vocal voice inside your head that tells you you’re not enough.

This song is about fighting off the metaphorical mean person in your head, says Clark.

It’s a battle cry. It’s also sort of an abstract encapsulation of a very complex feeling of trying to love and forgive yourself. This is a snapshot of being at war with yourself, but at the end, it feels like a catharsis. I had a ton of fun writing in a new tuning for this one, and writing the song with [producer] Zach Tuch; we had just met him that day and by the end of the session had a song in hand that we all loved and had become great friends.”

Levinson concurs, saying:

This was an incredibly collaborative writing process and we loved the result. Vocal lines became guitar solos became hooks — it was a daylong group brainstorm that yielded magnetic results. Massive shout out to the magical ways of producer Zach Tuch. This song is two self-conscious voices dueling in your head; the metaphorical hypercritical devil and soothing, forgiving angel are sitting on your shoulders exchanging verbal blows.”