Who are boygenius? The indie-rock supergroup aiming for Number 1 in the UK with The Record

Boygenius - aka Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker - are on their way to their first-ever UK Number 1 album this week with The Record.

Taking all the best points from each individual members solo career - hyper-specific lyrics, soaring melodies and a heartfelt, acoustic-led production - for something that is somehow greater than the sum of its already pretty great parts. 

The Record, from the title down, is a staggeringly confident work of three artists at the height of their powers who have found that they work better together. 

But given how underground the careers of boygenius have been at this point, it's not a stretch to wonder exactly who they are, and why this moment is so important. 

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So, who are boygenius?

Boygenius is a supergroup comprised of indie-rock singer-songwrtiers Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker.

Originally formed in 2018, Bridgers, Dacus and Baker were making inroads in their own solo careers when they organised a joint headline tour as a trio, and at first wanted to record a collaboration to sell as merch while on the road.

From the start, boygenius was concerned with tearing up the rulebook in indie-rock, with their name itself riffing on the notion that male rockstars are readily hailed as masterminds and auteurs, while their female counterparts have to work twice as hard from half the credit. 

Their covers also see Bridgers, Dacus and Baker re-purposing classic rock imagery. The cover of their first EP mocked a pose of folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash, while The Record was launched in Rolling Stone featuring the members of boygenius re-modelling poses taken from Nirvana's iconic 1994 cover story for the same mag.

But finding themselves too brimming with ideas, they actually recorded a six-track EP in less than a week (four days to be exact) before taking a brief hiatus to return to work on their own solo endeavours, before they came back together at the start of this year to release their debut album proper. 

You're right, I definitely recognise the name Phoebe Bridgers

Yes, you definitely do. Bridgers is by and large the most 'famous' member of boygenius, she came to prominence thanks to her 2020 second album Punisher, a beautiful and at times, yes, punishing body of work that found a wide and adoring audience during lockdown. 

While Dacus and Baker may technically be less well-known in a commercial sense, they've grown their own dedicated followings. Funnily enough, it seemed that each member of boygenius came into their own with their post-boygenius records - Bridgers with Punisher (2020), Dacus with third album Home Video (2021) and Baker's third LP Little Oblivions (2021). 

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Have the members of boygenius had UK chart success before?

Bridgers definitely leads the pack here. Punisher became her first Top 10 UK album, peaking at Number 6 (her very good debut album, 2017's Stranger In The Alps, didn't chart in the UK). 

Both Dacus and Baker have charted on the Official Albums Chart, but outside the Top 40. Home Video reached Number 85, while Little Oblivions peaked at Number 51.

What makes boygenius' The Record so important?

The Record represents the members of boygenius - both collectively and individually - reaching for something greater (literally, on the LP's eye-catching cover, reminiscent of Pearl Jam's Ten). There's the sense that Bridgers, Dacus and Baker don't just like working together, they love it. Much of The Record is spent languishing in their shared adoration of each other, album track We're In Love specifically is a testament to the intense bond of friendship all three feel for each other. In a sense, you get that The Record wasn't made for anyone else apart from Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. 

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It's also important because it's the first major label album the acts have issues; Bridgers is signed to indie label Dead Oceans, while both Dacus and Baker are with Matador, and it feels like as boygenius, they're ready to take a step, commercially, into a bigger world that they may be hesitant to do alone (although if the album's best track, the radio-ready Not Strong Enough is anything to go by, Bridgers herself is gearing up for a dominant third album). 

As one other celebrated supergroup once said, friendship never ends. The Record proves this has always been the case.

The UK's Number 1 album will be revealed tomorrow (April 7) from 4pm on BBC Radio 1's Official Chart, with the full Official Albums Chart Top 100 posted on OfficialCharts.com.