Girl Next Door is entering a new era with the announcement of her forthcoming sophomore EP, The Internet Belonged To Girls, alongside the release of new single ‘Shotgun’.
Drenched in shimmering synths, hazy electronic textures and the glow of a half-remembered summer, ‘Shotgun’ offers the first glimpse into a project rooted in nostalgia, girlhood and the strange emotional landscape of growing up online. For Girl Next Door, the electronic project of London-based producer, songwriter and vocalist Sarah Carton, it marks a move towards something brighter and more euphoric without losing the emotional directness that has defined her music so far.
Carton has previously described Girl Next Door’s music as “diary entries with synths”, a fitting description for a project built around emotionally unfiltered songwriting and adventurous electronic production. Drawing on the immediacy of hyperpop and the more experimental instincts of leftfield electronica, she has developed a sound that balances raw vulnerability with infectious pop sensibility.
On ‘Shotgun’, that approach takes on a distinctly sun-drenched quality. Produced by Carton alongside James Middleton of Manchester band Porij, the track trades the darker introspection of earlier releases for sparkling synths, shimmering textures and an instantly memorable hook. Its story unfolds through images of late-night drives, endless summers and imagined Californian coastlines, capturing the heady optimism of young love while maintaining the wistful quality of a memory that may never have happened quite as perfectly as remembered.
“Shotgun feels like the soundtrack to a summer holiday you can’t quite remember properly. It’s about that strange feeling of believing one night might change your whole life. I wanted it to sound euphoric, a little chaotic and completely infatuated.
Shotgun is the first song from a collection of music exploring what it meant to grow up as part of the first generation of girls online, celebrating the freedom and fantasy of that era while reflecting on the emotional complexity that came with it.”
That idea sits at the heart of The Internet Belonged To Girls, an EP that looks beyond simple internet nostalgia to examine how the online world shaped the identities and imaginations of a generation. Glitter graphics, MSN Messenger, MySpace profiles and early online communities become part of a wider story about girlhood, fantasy, fractured memories and self-discovery.
Rather than treating the early internet as a purely nostalgic playground, Carton’s forthcoming record considers the freedom that came with growing up online alongside the complications that accompanied it. It is a portrait of an era before social media became fully commercialised, when online spaces could feel simultaneously intimate, chaotic and limitless.
The project arrives after a significant breakthrough period for Girl Next Door. Her music has picked up support from BBC Radio 1, including Jess Iszatt, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Stuart Maconie through the Freak Zone, Radio X’s John Kennedy, BBC Introducing, Selector Radio and Reprezent Radio. Her growing profile has also seen coverage from Dork, DMY, Notion, The Line of Best Fit, When The Horn Blows, Atwood Magazine, Clout, Earmilk, Fizzy Mag and Wordplay.
Carton’s work extends beyond her own project, too. As a songwriter and vocalist, she has appeared on releases by artists including OMNOM, Delta Heavy, 49th & Main and Ekko & Sidetrack. Her collaboration with OMNOM on ‘Okay Fine’ has passed three million streams, while Delta Heavy’s ‘E-N-D’ has surpassed one million and 49th & Main’s ‘Homesick’ has passed 350,000 streams.
Girl Next Door’s own catalogue has now amassed more than two million Spotify streams, with editorial recognition including two appearances on New Music Friday UK, as well as Choice Edit, Your Office Stereo and Apple Music’s New In Dance.
That momentum has also translated to the stage. Originally from Bishop’s Stortford and now based in London, Carton has built a reputation as a compelling live performer, headlining Next Door Records Two and Paper Dress Vintage, supporting Absolutely Anytime at The Windmill in Brixton, appearing at Hidden Door Festival and completing a residency as a Roundhouse Resident Artist. She has also received funding from Help Musicians as she continues to develop a multidisciplinary world around the Girl Next Door project.
With ‘Shotgun’, that world takes on a new colour. Euphoric, wistful and deliberately caught somewhere between fantasy and memory, the single introduces an artist looking back at the early internet not simply as a source of aesthetic nostalgia, but as a formative part of growing up. The Internet Belonged To Girls promises to take that idea further, turning the glitter, awkwardness and mythology of early digital girlhood into the foundation for Girl Next Door’s most ambitious chapter yet.
