Is Boygenius Over?

It may be a while until we hear from American supergroup Boygenius again, as the trio recently indicated they’d be going on hiatus.

Boygenius – comprised of solo artists and singer-songwriters Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus – made the announcement during a pair of “secret” shows they played in Los Angeles on Thursday, 1 February.

While the trio haven’t officially shared the news on social media yet, they reportedly told fans on Thursday that they’re “going away for the foreseeable future”. In footage shared from their Friday show on Instagram, Lucy Dacus said, “This is our last show, and we’re feeling it”, via Boygenius Source.

Boygenius Source also quoted Dacus as saying, “This is our last song” before performing the final song on the setlist, Not Strong Enough, with Julien Baker responding, “Not EVER”, so there’s hope for a (hopefully) short hiatus. The trio’s representatives confirmed to Pitchfork that they are indeed taking a break.

This Monday (5 February) sees Boygenius up for seven Grammy Awards, with their debut full-length, The Record, nominated for Album of the Year, Best Alternative Music Album, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (which means that their Australian co-producer, Catherine Marks, is up for a Grammy, too).

Meanwhile, their song Not Strong Enough is up for three awards: Record of the Year, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance, and their track Cool About It has been nominated for Best Alternative Music Performance.

Boygenius formed in 2018 and released their eponymous debut EP the same year. Last year, they followed it up with The Record and the companion EP, The Rest.

However, Bridgers, Dacus, and Baker are all established, beloved solo artists in the alternative rock/emo music sphere – perhaps a Boygenius hiatus will lead to new solo music from each artist. Bridgers released her second album, Punisher, in 2020, while Baker and Dacus released their third albums, Little Oblivions and Home Video, respectively, in 2021.

The group formed as “kind of an accident” after initially being fans of each other’s music and quickly becoming friends. Both Dacus and Bridgers opened for Baker on separate tours in 2016.

In other Boygenius news, the trio recently teamed up with Gretsch and unveiled their new signature guitar, the Gretsch Limited Edition Boygenius Broadkaster® Jr. The guitar is priced at a relatively affordable $699.99 USD ($1064.71 AUD) and is now available on the band’s website.