Sophia Garvey has never sounded particularly interested in making uncomfortable subjects comfortable. Her new single “Ur just a man,” featuring Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder, takes aim at the inflated mythology surrounding male ego and turns it into something deliberately cheeky, gritty and confrontational.
The track comes charging in with the attitude of punk-pop-rock, carrying the driving energy that makes its three-minute runtime feel like a particularly sharp rant delivered at full volume. Garvey’s vocals balance humour with genuine irritation as she picks apart the childish behaviour often dressed up as mystery, complexity or masculinity. There is something wonderfully theatrical about the whole thing, but beneath the jokes sits a clear frustration with the expectation that women should romanticise behaviour they would probably be better off walking away from.
Then Shaun Ryder enters, and somehow the collaboration makes perfect sense. His unmistakable voice adds another layer of irreverence to Garvey’s already chaotic world, turning the track into a strange but effective collision between punk-rock provocation and Ryder’s famously eccentric personality. His presence also gives the song a celebrated male character stepping directly into a song questioning the mythology built around men.
Garvey’s social-media experiment leading into the release reportedly sparked arguments, outrage and even threats, which only makes the song’s raised-eyebrow humour feel more pointed. Still, “Ur just a man” is less interested in attacking everyone than in puncturing a particular kind of ego.
And that is what makes it entertaining. Garvey does not make the uncomfortable subject palatable. She makes it funny, loud and impossible to ignore, while “Coward,” her forthcoming follow-up, promises to push that story further.
STAY IN TOUCH:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
Review by: Naomi Joan