Mariella
5 December 2023
I’ve never been harassed at a bar, not in the way I know many of my female friends and partners have been. I’m sure we all know what it looks like, or the very least have seen one part of it take place.
It can’t feel safe when a stranger approach you, one who’s probably twice your size or at least twice your weight, whom you had no interactions with and who treats you as nothing more than an object that pleases their gaze. An object which they only want to take to their bed. An object they don’t see as a person.
Gia Lily, an up and comer on the London scene, has managed to capture this sort of horrible kind of creature, pretending to be a man whilst acting like a child, and giving him the verbal backtalk we all wish we could hear. Best of all, she does to a playful song with the date set for every sort that makes this approach. It’ll happen, she promises, on the 28th – The 28th of Never.
From the moment this song starts with that repetitive low base you can see it in your mind – the club, the man, the girl with the drinks alone and vulnerable. Until! Lily gives power to the powerless in that situation by reminding those listening that standing up for yourself is always a good thing. And sometimes a good verbal thrashing is deserved, the chorus repeats and its stronger each time. There’s an assurance that their words are so clever, so disarming, that they can strike a deadly wound.
More than anything in this song is the tone – it isn’t full of anger or malice. Its upbeat and playful. And why shouldn’t it be? Going out should be a fun experience, and Lily’s song makes that clear. She’s a fantastic voice to listen to, certainty someone who will quickly make a name for themselves.
Lily, a British-Italian artist, has previously made it clear that her songs are about empowerment and that certainly feels true when you listen to 28th of November. Her main chorus, tied playfully to the backing tune of drums and guitar, takes the usual requests of these drunk approachers, borderline predators really, and wittily responds. Her number? ’07 never gonna happen’. Her name? Sure! ‘It’s G I ain’t gonna see you again’. When will you see each other next? Gia knows a GREAT place, ‘it’s down on no way’.
Lily makes it clear; girls are not in clubs to be objectified by drunk morons six pints in and ten minutes from being escorted out by bouncers for bad behaviour. They’re there to have fun, not to be harassed by boys, not MEN, boys with ‘bad chat and worse tattoos’.
It’s a bop song, well written and catchy and makes you want to get up on your feet and dance with confidence – no f’s given about who might be watching, cause the next time you’ll see them is the 28th of Never!
Lily has recently had her song played on BBC Radio. Her songs can be found on Spotify, Amazon music and Apple music. Her latest single, ‘28th of Never’ is available now to stream.
