Following on from her single Left Behind, featured on BlackPlastic back in March, and EP Nostalgia Haunts Me, NY-based musician Kacey Fifield is back with her latest single, Dream Girl.
Retaining a similar affection for cinematic teen drama as Left Behind, Dream Girl is a depiction of internal yearning and insecurity. Regardless of age, we can all occasionally feel alienated as we try to slot ourselves into a particular mold, fitting a definition of what is deemed desirable and aspirational.
Fifield sings of her own mental anguish as she desperately chases outside validation, wanting the affirmation of being someone’s “dream girl”. Slick electronic melodies and fuzzy guitars paint a picture of the tension at play in Fifield’s own mind, partly sanitised and plastic, yet also bristling and messy and human.
Capping the song off is a vocal sample, which sounds like Kacey talking on the phone to a friend, presumably regaling them with her romantic escapades. As Dream Girl ends, the music drops away to briefly leave the words of the phone call exposed. In those final moments, Fifield says, “We actually broke up, so…”, and in doing so, perfectly reveals the futility of trying to make yourself different just to please someone else.