Clairo Fans, Keep St. Vincent's Name out of Your Mouths!
A vindication of the post-Grammys St. Vincent slander coming from the Clairo fandom.
By Charley Burns
Okay, normally I do not care whatsoever about the Grammys. They’re pretty subjective and personally, I don’t think they're doing anything that great for art. So I lowkey hate that I have to even write this article, but indie girls, we need to have a talk about some things. Mainly the fact that all of you need to calm the fuck down that Clairo lost to legandary amazing stunning guitar goddess St. Vincent. Apologies for the little tiny bit aggressive tone this is gonna have.
Some context if you clicked on this article and are confused on what I’m yapping about: at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, St. Vincent won three awards: Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Album for her seventh studi album All Born Screaming, and Best Alternative Music Performance for the album’s fourth track, “Flea.” As a hardcore St. Vincent fan since I was eleven years old, it was awesome, especially as this album was a return to her normal vibe after the very stylized and off-beat album, Daddy’s Home. She announced that she had a secret wife and child during one of her speeches, yeah, the whole thing was great, and it was refreshing to see her get some big recognition.
Now here’s where the issue arises. In the category of Best Alternative Album, Charm by indie darling Clairo was also nominated. Clairo is notorious for having a very aggressive, or let's just say very passionate, fan base that is notably vocal on social media. So when Clairo lost that award, her fans went berserk. Like I very clearly remember opening Tik Tok the day after the Grammys, expecting everything to be normal and chill. But NO! I see hundreds of videos shitting on St. Vincent, saying stuff like “who even is she?”, calling her a nobody, or just really dissing her to express that they thought Clairo was snubbed. So I’m here to say, put some respect on my girl, Annie Clark aka St. Vincent’s name right this second!
I get it. You all like Clairo, and I like Clairo too, but y’all literally have no reason to be reacting like this. Did Clairo have Dave Grohl drum on her album? Oh I’m so sorry, I must’ve missed Clairo’s collab album with David Byrne? Oh, wait, she doesn’t have one? That is what I thought. Classify this as Clairo-shade, I don’t care! I’m here to vindicate one of the greatest artists of the 21st century being called a nobody by upset fangirls. Clairo fandom, go listen to Masseduction before even putting St. Vincent's name in your mouth. Every single album of hers from Marry Me to All Born Screaming are bangers, created by literally a woman considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time. I would also like to raise the point, if I may, that Clairo isn’t alt. She’s more indie rock or even more pop. Clairo would never don an orange latex bodysuit and shred a guitar like I’ve seen St. Vincent do (I’ve seen both live so don’t even come for me).
Music fandom beef like that is super fun and normally I’m totally cool with it, but bringing my girl St. Vincent into this is too far! Especially when you call her a nobody compared to Clairo, an artist that has only been around since 2019. So here’s my homework for all you Clairo-loving St. Vincent-haters. Go listen to two or three of her albums, just to understand the other side of this. Just to give you a view of a less poppy side of alternative music. You’ll hear stunning vocals and fun guitar, which you like from Clairo, so I bet you can appreciate it from St. Vincent. Okay, we all chill now? Cool, and never speak on a subject so awesome that you can’t comprehend it ever again :)