This band means so much to me. After I listened to and reviewed their single, R The Straights Ok, I immediately started following their every move on social media. They’re some of the most talented and authentic people in this space and I’m excited to have the opportunity to write about another one of their songs.
Care About, from their upcoming EP called “pretty, baby!”, is a heart-breaking song written out of anger and sadness after the shootings at the Colorado queer bar, Club Q. In November of 2022, 5 people’s lives were taken in Colorado Springs, and countless others’ lives were forever changed. As someone who is queer, lives less than an hour from the location of the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and lost people during that preventable tragedy, this song immediately made me emotional.
The lyrics, “With their painted faces shining so bright / Making some little kid feel loved / When are you gonna care about / Everyone that should be here now / How many faces and names ago…” make me feel so seen and so incredibly somber. Every day, especially in the United States under the current abhorrent administration, queer people are being targeted. Whether it be physically through violence or legislatively through harmful and life-threatening bills, the fear never goes away, it is always here with us.
There are no words that can describe the feeling of losing someone to a hate crime. But this song captures it in a bottle while sending a message about how we move forward from tragedy, positively.
The last verse is a call to those who DO care: “All night, hearing them all night / All night, hearing them all night / So I’m finding some little thing to love / And tomorrow we will light something up”. We HAVE to live on for these individuals, and we must do whatever we can to contribute to the creation of a better world and the destruction of the current. Finding joy as a trans person is resistance, living on is resistance, and continuing to be yourself even while being threatened with violence IS resistance.
I cannot explain how much I appreciate Pillowprince for this song. I hope you listen to it and find some answers for yourself about how to be joyful, how to remember those who have lost their lives, and how to honor them with your words AND actions.
Stream Care About now on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music!
Written by Newt Fangs
