Dublin newcomers Hotgirl began as the bedroom project of singer/songwriter Ashley Abbedeen. Since sharing debut single on Soundcloud back in 2021 the band has seen new members, EPs and many a live show. With a new EP due out early next year, the quartet have shared the lead single ‘In Your Head’ via Cartoon Records (Kai Bosch). With them making waves on the Dublin scene and being touted as ones to watch, we caught up with them to find out a little bit more of the backstory.
Give us a potted history of the band
The four of us started playing together around last year. Nick and Jake wanted to book Hotgirl for a show but it was just me and Sophie at the time, so they joined the band on a whim, and it just worked. We started recording together and it quickly developed into this cool little thing.
A few months later we’d started gigging more regularly and we applied for this showcase gig called Ireland Music Week and since then things started to snowball. We’ve played our first Irish festival, as well in the UK and Europe, supported The Libertines in the Olympia in Dublin as well as bands like SPRINTS, Pillow Queens, and Fat Dog.
Who inspired you to start making music and the one or maybe two records that inspired you artistically
I was raised by the TV growing up. One of the first shows I loved was Little Einsteins. Anything musical was right up my alley. I also would learn off songs from Phineas and Ferb and sing them with my friends. One of the best movies ever, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam came out, and I would watch it every day for about a year. The soundtrack was also the first album I ever bought. Demi Lovato is so skilled. There was also lots of old school RnB and Afrobeats playing in my house all the time growing up, and I love Elliott Smith’s Roman Candle and Juliana Hatfield. But Demi Lovato is a much more sophisticated answer.
If you’re trying to explain whom you sound like to someone that’s never heard you, what do you say
It’s like soundtrack music for a 90’s/2000’s coming of age movie.
Tell us about your new single
We released our newest single In Your Head through Cartoon Records. It was produced by Neil Kennedy of Ranch Productions. Before our trip over to his studio in Southampton, I was trying to scrounge up all the half written music I had and found myself at a period of time where I was actively going through a lot of changes in my life; a bad break up, moving house, starting a new job.
I guess it was a time of self-reflection and trying to start fresh and move on from all the bullshit trauma I’ve gone through. This song and the others that will follow really reflect a lot of what was going on in my mind at the time. It was a lot of fun to record and go back and forth with ideas with Neil as I’d never really written with other people in this way before, so I’m super proud of how it turned out!
Tell us how you write
At the start, I wrote all the songs and had very clear ideas about how I wanted them to turn out. More recently though, we’ve been more collaborative as a band with every aspect of the writing. We go to the studio and I might have the bones of an idea and we flesh it out together. We all have different tastes but for the most part we understand more now what the “hotgirl” sound is, and it’s been really enjoyable trying to figure it out together.
Tell us about your live show, what would be your dream gig
The live show is part music part Jake working out his stand up routine, Ashley also engages in primal scream therapy
Dream gig would be hotgirl at the sphere
What can we expect from you in the near future
Our next project will be out early next year.
Tell us your favourite records that are rocking your headphones/tour bus/stereo
I’ve recently rediscovered Kurt Vile’s “believe it’s going down…” Pretty Pimpin’ is a lovely lighthearted track to start the day off with.
Check out the bands single In your Head, below:
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