London-born alt-pop provocateur girli has unveiled her new single ‘Better Undressed’, marking the start of what she calls her most personal creative era yet. The track, released through AllPoints, signals a stylistic and emotional shift for the outspoken artist, who has spent nearly a decade redefining pop on her own terms.
With a sound built on textured guitars, candid storytelling and a DIY aesthetic, Better Undressed trades in the polished electropop sheen of her previous work for something rawer, looser and more intimate. It’s a sharp, melodic reflection on the messiness of breakups, the longing that lingers, and the irrational pull of unfinished love.
“Better Undressed is a song for the people who can’t do no contact post-breakup,” girli explains. “The only thing weirder than getting undressed with someone is getting redressed after. Going from knowing someone intimately to pretending you never did is super hard.”
The track’s lyrics, “come on over, we could call it closure” and “I wanna show you my post-breakup glow up that I got outta spite”, cut between confession and self-parody, delivered with her trademark wit and rhythmic precision. It’s an anthem of contradiction: hurt wrapped in humour, closure wrapped in temptation.
The accompanying video matches that energy. Shot through the grain of a camcorder, girli and her band perform in their underwear amid piles of clothes in a cluttered garage room. As the performance unfolds, they slowly layer on mismatched clothing, each new piece representing emotional distance, self-recovery, and the gradual act of moving on. It’s chaotic, tongue-in-cheek, and ultimately cathartic.
Born Amelia Toomey in north-west London in 1997, girli first burst onto the scene in 2015 with So You Think You Can Fuck With Me Do Ya?, a bratty slice of lo-fi electropop that announced her as a fearless new voice. Her early work with Virgin EMI and PMR Records explored feminism, sexuality and mental health through the lens of bubblegum pop and DIY punk attitude, a rare combination in the mid-2010s UK pop landscape.
Her debut album Odd One Out (2019) showcased her genre-defying edge, pulling from pop-punk, rap and PC Music influences. When she was dropped by her label later that year, she responded with the biting single Has Been, aimed squarely at the industry that tried to reshape her.
During lockdown, girli returned as a fully independent artist with Ex Talk (2021), a breakup-themed EP that reintroduced her voice with more emotional depth and less studio gloss. That led to her 2024 full-length Matriarchy, an album that positioned her firmly within the global alternative pop conversation. It reached the UK’s Top 20, proving that her uncompromising style had found a lasting audience.
Now with Better Undressed, girli begins what she describes as “the most authentic version” of herself, less about rebellion for rebellion’s sake, and more about honesty, intimacy and self-awareness.
“I’ve spent years making music that shouted loud about who I was,” she says. “This new era is still about identity, but it’s more about letting the rough edges show. It’s okay to be messy, to still care, to not have all the answers.”
Since her teenage years, girli has embodied the idea that pop music can be both political and personal. Her songs often blur the line between satire and sincerity, whether tackling mental health (Up & Down), toxic relationships (Deal With It), or body image (Dysmorphia).
She’s also been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ visibility and gender inclusivity, calling her music “a space for people who don’t fit into neat boxes”.
girli’s sound has shifted across eras, from the brat-pop energy of Hot Mess (2017) to the confessional lyricism of Matriarchy, but her voice remains unmistakably her own: sharp, fearless and unfiltered.
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