The pains of youth have been pop’s raw material since the world was new. But the current wave of teen (or recently teenage) artists is something of a tsunami. This cohort of young bedroom producers is levelling up rapidly, swapping snugs for studios and putting out more well-upholstered records. Detroit’s Chloe Moriondo grew up on the internet, graduating from strumming the ukulele on YouTube to being a serious contender on her second album. The 18-year-old only just finished high school during the first lockdown.
Preferring girls (Samantha) and being a misfit (Rly Don’t Care) are topics covered by others of a comparable lineage – Clairo, Girl in Red – but there is much to distinguish Moriondo, whose sense of mischief is as strong as her pop-punk desire to tell it like it is. I Want to Be With You may sledgehammer home its quiet-loud stadium indie, but I Eat Boys is a revenge fantasy in which leering males might end up coming a cropper in her basement. Manta Rays, a love song, finds Moriondo getting high, going online, and being shocked to discover how huge manta rays really are.
