Parker has been making music with her bandmates under her name for a long time. However, they have now decided to form a new band called PrettyUgly. Mixing pop and rock influences, the trio has released their first single, ‘Eat My Words,’ today.
After meeting in New York, Parker started playing music with Joey and Quinn. In the beginning, Joey and Quinn not only played in the band but also managed Parker, even though they had no prior experience in management. After finding new management with Ally Duesbury, Parker expresses it was Duesbery’s idea to switch to an official band.
“It was her idea to do a band thing because we all agreed there’s a hole in the market for a female lead band,” Parker said. “Not much is different now from when we were writing all the music together. I think it was kind of a vibe thing, a look thing.”
PrettyUgly just released their debut single, ‘Eat My Words,’ inspired by a spooky drumline that came to lead singer, Parker, after dog-sitting a greyhound in New York. The song’s lyrics center around a villain origin story.
“It’s about doing the wrong thing enough times to where you think it’d be easier to just take on the villain,” Parker said. “I know I’m a bad person, but it’s because bad things have been done to me, which means I’m valid. So it’s like taking responsibility for being shitty.”
Although the band officially released ‘Eat My Words’ today, they have been performing it live for a year. With a year’s worth of tweaking, the song has evolved to sound quite different from its earlier version.
“This song is one of the first examples of us really trying to figure out how we were going to blend cynthy sounds mixed with our harder rock sound too,” Parker said. “When we first recorded it, it was just a rock song. Since then, it has more elements of pop in it.”
PrettyUgly often performs unreleased songs at their shows. Joey revealed that several of these popular tracks will soon also be released.
“If you listen to just one song, and then another one later, and then another one even later than that, you’re like, ‘that doesn’t make sense,'” Joey said. “If you listen together and see the show, there is a cohesive sound to it. It’s upbeat, fun, a little spooky sometimes, a little sad and happy sometimes.”
The band aims to evoke a variety of emotions through their music, and are thankful for choosing a band name that allows them to do that.
“We’ve kind of like put ourselves in a position where we can justify having a variety of genres that still fit into what we advertise ourselves as,” Parker said. “This and the next song are broody and angry and on the ugly side. Then ‘Face’ which I think is gonna come out in February is on that happier, pretty side so to speak.”
After coming together and officially establishing their band, PrettyUgly has undergone a significant transformation. Their music now embodies a fresh and distinctive identity, a testament to their growth as artists.
“The first year we were making music in New York all together in my small apartment in my bedroom. It was kind of just like whatever we were feeling that day,” Joey said. “It’s getting more focused and like we can see what the vision is more clearly.”