In June 2024, TV Girl celebrated the tenth anniversary of their debut album, French Exit. Since its release, French Exit has earned its place as one of the most influential indie/electronic pop albums of the last decade.
Photo of French Exit album by TV Girl. FAIR USE under review/criticism. Used with written permission from the artist. Original photography by Peter Gowland.
Although the band has been putting out music since 2010, TV Girl’s success has hit new heights with over 21 million monthly listeners on Spotify and over one billion listens on their biggest hit, “Lovers Rock”. But with increased popularity comes new challenges, such as an influx in younger listeners after a few of the bands’ hits went viral as TikTok audios. This newer demographic of TV Girl fans is much more vocal than the band’s typical audience, and are not afraid to post their criticisms online.
Brad Petering, lead singer and co-founder of TV Girl, delved into recent controversies the band has faced following the surplus of publicity brought from TikTok, as well as future plans for TV Girl in a remote interview with Bianca Louise Aquino.
Bianca Louise Aquino: Recently, French Exit celebrated its 10th anniversary, with the band performing its album in entirety live. How did you feel looking back at TV Girl from 2014?
Brad Petering (TV Girl): “10 years go by faster than you think. It doesn’t seem that long ago until I really think hard about all that we’ve done and how far we’ve come since we put out French Exit. I miss those times, being young and debaucherous and new to LA, going on my first tour, recording my first real record. On the other hand, French Exit has been present in my life this whole time. We’ve performed a lot of the record on all our tours, and did the six and a half year anniversary tour, and then having it become popular with a new generation years after it came out. And I’ve been very blessed to have Jason and Wyatt by my side the whole time. I mostly feel surprised and lucky that people care, especially [since] it wasn’t very popular when it came out.”
How do you define TV Girl’s “brand”, and how do you determine what fits within it, as opposed to your other side projects such as “Bloodbath64” or “Varial Heel”?
Brad Petering: “TV Girl is my main gig. I reserve it for my best songs or for when I really want to make an artistic statement and stand behind it. [It’s] nice to have “side projects” to do things that are a bit more experimental or conceptual, like my stab at “vaporwave” with [Bloodbath64]. Obviously there’s some aesthetic markers that remain constant in TV Girl music and visuals, but luckily they’re malleable enough to evolve and change over time.”
TV Girl is no stranger to concept albums, such as Who Really Cares largely centering around sex, and Grapes Upon the Vine having religious themes. What is the process like to decide a theme for an album? Does that come before or after writing songs?
Brad Petering: “[It’s] hard to pinpoint exactly where inspiration comes from. Sometimes it just comes naturally out of the life I’m living at the time, like Who Really Cares, or sometimes I’ll just get a nagging idea in my mind to do something, like a “gospel” record, and try to figure out how to make it work from there.”
Following the release of Grapes Upon the Vine, you’ve openly discussed how it wasn’t received as well by fans as other albums did. Did you anticipate this album being divisive prior to its release?
Brad Petering: “I honestly thought people were going to like it. I thought it was an interesting idea and some of my best work, especially lyrically. But in retrospect, gospel music is a niche genre and anything flirting with anything “religious” is going to be divisive. It’s one thing if it’s not [someone’s] cup of tea, but I had to roll my eyes when people dogged it for being straightforward religious music, just taking it at face value and completely missing the point.”
The rise in TV Girl’s success is linked to the increase of TV Girl’s songs becoming popular on TikTok. What is it like knowing that a song could have a resurgence in listens due to the app? Is there a song that you hope becomes the next TikTok trend?
Brad Petering: “I think it’s cool when old songs get a second life or an under-appreciated band gets an unexpected resurgence. I’m not gonna lie and say it’s not strange to suddenly have a fanbase consisting mostly of chronically online teenagers. But no fanbase is perfect and it’s nice to be liked by someone I guess. Mostly I try not to think about it and just do my own thing. I’m smart enough to know that actively trying to cater to a [TikTok] audience is “cringe” and probably antithetical to what made it appealing to people in the first place.”
A recent controversy was when you thanked “selling your soul” to Satan in concert for your success, which led to many TikTok accounts, mostly younger users, claiming they were no longer fans. How has it been to experience a change in your audience’s demographics?
Brad Petering: “I frankly couldn’t believe in this day and age that “satanic panics” could be a real thing. I grew up with irony and sarcasm being the primary cornerstones of my sense of humor, and that seems completely lost on the younger generation. Maybe it’s just the natural backlash against the older generation’s sensibilities, but still, of all the things in our world for a young person to be concerned about…satan?”
Are you currently working on anything else for TV Girl or other projects? Will your recent singles such as “Summer 2000 Baby” and “Average Guy (Blame)” be featured on a larger project?
Brad Petering: Yes. A collaborative mini-album with my pal George Clanton is forth-coming, and I’m starting to conceptualize the direction of a new album, but that is some time away.
Listen to TV Girl’s latest collaboration project with legendary vaporwave producer and artist, George Clanton:
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