Meet The Booyah! Kids, New York's Bedroom Pop Poster Child
Following up bedroom pop staples like Clairo and Cuco is no easy feat, especially within the confines of New York's highly saturated music scene. The Booyah! Kids face the question of how to create music that fits snugly within the category, yet doesn't just draw cheap comparisons to the acts that came before. Their answer? Don't.
The Booyah! Kids fully embrace the bedroom pop genre and everything that comes with it. From the woozy subdued vocals to the repetitive earworm production, their music serves as the quintessential template for all aspiring DIY indie artists. In their own way, The Booyah! Kids have become the poster child for New York bedroom pop.
Emma Lee, Julian Kaufman, and Aidan Ludlam had all been making music independently prior to meeting each other. In perhaps the most New York fashion, Kaufman and Ludlam met by bumping into each other on the subway. Kaufman brought Lee into the fold after meeting her through a mutual producer friend, and thus the idea of The Booyah! Kids was born. Kaufman cites similar musical vision, compatibility, and reciprocal trust as the basis for their friendship - no doubt all qualities that contribute towards the band's cohesive sound as well.
Not long after the group's conception, The Booyah! Kids went off to their respective colleges, Bard, Oberlin, and New Paltz. Holed up in dorm rooms hundreds of miles apart, they exchanged short demos over iMessage, which they spliced together over the course of a year. These recordings formed the foundation of their debut album, Bedroom Headroom. Featuring hazy reverbed vocals layered over synth-pop beats, the album made a small splash with indie pop fans but quickly faded into the background.
If Bedroom Headroom is Emma, Julian, and Aidan testing the waters, their sophomore release Booyah is a cannonball leap into the deep end. The band found seemingly overnight popularity after the release of Booyah in December of 2019.
Fan favorite "Julian 19," a sweet tribute to bandmate Kaufman, channels the acoustic buoyancy of a Jack Johnson song, with lines like "I love your music and I love your jams" and "In the studio / Fooling around / Making sounds / With his friends." The uplifting "Priority" is a heartfelt hug to those experiencing "love from afar" - something we know all too well right now. Reminiscent of the melodies found on Tyler, The Creator's Flower Boy, "Only U" boasts an alternative R&B-inspired sound wrapped delicately around the wistful musings of someone realizing the person they love might be bad for them.
Just two albums in, The Booyah! Kids show no signs of slowing down; in fact, New York's resident bedroom pop collective is just getting started. Not unlike sister band MICHELLE, The Booyah! Kids have an impressive penchant for churning out infectious tunes that make it hard to resist bopping your head. Crafting catchy lofi pop songs with your best friends from the comfort of your home - does it get any more bedroom pop than that?
Listen to Booyah below:
