Song of the Week is Consequence’s weekly music discovery series looking at the latest and greatest new tunes. Find these new favorites and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Kim Gordon returns with rousing mundanity on “BYE BYE.”
It’s a to-do list, a packing index, a sermon, a spell. Kim Gordon’s latest, “BYE BYE,” offers a glimpse into the world of her forthcoming second solo album, The Collective.
Shrouded in reverb, Gordon croaks out a list of travel needs for an upcoming trip: Boots, a turtleneck, a cardigan, contact solution, ear plugs, sleeping pills. If the list seems mundane, it’s because it is — there’s not much out of the ordinary in what she names, save for perhaps the “milk thistle” or the mention of “cigarettes — for a killer.” Still, Gordon utters these words with such gravity that it becomes less of a “Okay, time to go to the airport, do I have everything?” checklist and more of a mantra or a summoning.
Helping cement the eerie vibe is an absolutely filthy hip-hop beat courtesy of A-list producer Justin Raisen. The blown out bass drum contrasts with the atmosphere on Gordon’s vocals, providing distance between her seemingly normal deliveries and the high-energy beat beneath her. An industrial electric guitar occasionally rips through the track, giving it a harsh, dissonant feel. And meanwhile, icy synths, warbling bass, tinny crash cymbals, and the general sense that something is not quite right characterize the instrumental backdrop.
So, then, what is this mysterious checklist? Where is our narrator going, and why is she bringing a milk thistle? Though it’s The Collective’s first single, it does appropriately bring us Gordon’s acute mindset, and introduces us to the throbbing, industrial hues that The Collective will likely feature. As noted in her recent live sets, like her performance at Primavera Sound Los Angeles in 2022, “BYE BYE” evokes a kind of glitchy, electro seance. Just as children say “Beetlejuice” three times in the mirror to make him appear, Kim Gordon repeats her packing list to make herself disappear into another realm.
The other fascinating aspect to “BYE BYE” is the emphasis on material items. The laundry list of travel needs is not overwhelming on its own, but when you add in the dissonance of the sonics, it quickly feels like these items mean everything and nothing. Gordon does not fashion the list as an advertisement, per se — but the modern air of “BYE BYE” evokes an Instagram ad that’s trying to get you to buy a very specific kind of sweater or mascara or sleep mask or calcium supplement. What does it mean to need these items away from home, which span anywhere from $4.99 to $500? What does it say about our subliminal, collective participation in a capitalistic ecosystem that determines what we need, rather than the other way around? Are these items important, meaningless, utilitarian, excessive?
These are the kinds of subtle questions offered in “BYE BYE.” But even if we aren’t given any answers to Gordon’s collage-esque queries, one thing is for certain: The beat on “BYE BYE” is gargantuan enough to have us nodding in agreement. We do need those ear plugs and that eyelash curler. À bientôt!
— Paolo Ragusa
Associate Editor