https://www.instagram.com/jennyisanalien/?hl=en is a phenomenon in the making. The punk rock hyperpop artist has taken over with a new sound on brutally honest songs like “Therapy”, “Boys in Bandz,” “Happy Birthday,” and “Movie,” where she reflects on the trappings of a young American mind. Jenny Alien’s poignant and smart lyrics invite you into her wonderfully bizarre and honest world.
Last week, she dropped her first EP, https://open.spotify.com/album/1PjPKYYUWDiYNm5mFU2FCZ?si=l39T49faS96fb70iXvvwMg, which she opens with “Welcome 2 My House.” It’s a song that pokes fun of suburban visions from hell. The nine-track album is an artistic journey through afflictions that face young people in a digitally oversaturated, and oftentimes unmanageable, world. Rain spoke to the emerging rocker on her punk roots and how this gem of an EP came to fruition.
Glitchcore
Rain: How did Jenny Alien begin? Tell me about your journey into music and glitchcore.
Jenny Alien: Jenny Alien stems from my early experiences in punk bands and rave culture. I was brought up in the midwest and spent my teenage years frequenting the Chicago DIY music scene.
This scene is largely punk music and often in some version of a house or basement— existing somewhere between house party and concert. I remember my first DIY show experience, inside an abandoned church. Squat referred to it as ‘Young Camelot.’ I was immediately overcome with a feeling of acceptance from an outcast community, and in Snoop Dogg’s words, I was ‘young, wild and free’ (cringe).
That night, the friend I went with received a bloody nose in the first 15 minutes in the mosh pit. Instead of cleaning it up, my friend wore it around as a badge of pride the entire night.
Jenny Alien, photographed by Mattias Pettersson
While simultaneously experiencing Chicago’s DIY punk scene, I was also frequenting electronic music festivals and raves. Although my interest in both EDM and punk music existed in a similar time frame, there was a stigma between crowds and these circles never overlapped. My punk friends_ _were contemptuous of rave music and everything it represented. They considered punk music to be _raw and real—_using “real instruments”—while rave music, on the other hand, was fake and inauthentic.
In America, I would perform in a punk band called _The Afterbirth _where I would throw secret shows and run around naked in utility closets; it was important to me that even with my new hyperpop project that I kept this punk/carefree attitude.
Jenny Alien
Punk nights
I never thought these worlds would collide, even though I housed them in neighboring regions of my brain. Punk nights in abandoned buildings, and all-day/night raves in undisclosed fields, were no different from each other: these were times of pure-drunk-irreverence, and the crowds were more similar than they were willing to acknowledge at the time.
Jenny Alien - Corner Store (Official Video)
In 2019, I moved to London; I was 23 and going through a midlife crisis. Many big things were changing in my life, and I figured the best way to deal with it was to move as far away as possible. Moreover, I was listening to a lot of hyperpop, specifically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Gecs and osno1 (Laura Les’ former project). I ended up moving to South East London, the exact place where PC Music was born.
This is the Jenny Alien Experience: it’s punk, it’s irreverent, it’s hyperpop, and it’s painstakingly human.
Jenny Alien
Jenny Alien is born
This move led to the conception of Jenny Alien and is the natural progression of all these threads. In America, I would perform in a punk band called _The Afterbirth _where I would throw secret shows and run around naked in utility closets; it was important to me that even with my new hyperpop project that I kept this punk/carefree attitude.
Jenny Alien, photographed by Mattias Pettersson
Scumbag Rock$tar
My debut album, Scumbag Rock$tar, embodies this punk mentality and chronicles my time spent here in London. I’m candid about topics including (but not limited to): dalliances, breakups, queerness, partying in abandoned mansions with 25 living rooms, depression, waking up in the country, growing old and boring, and everything in between.
It’s anthemic and explosive with beat-drops and catchy choruses, yet contrasts with somber realities of reflection and solitude. I want people to listen and dance to the party tracks with pure-drunk irreverence then sober up with me being a real one about my personal experiences.
My live shows are wild dance parties performed with my DJ, _Meat is Murder, _and my drummer, _Girl Gruel McDyk (although soon there will be a slight rearrangement because I’m moving back to the states). _You can expect confetti cannons, cartwheels, beer spillage, mosh pits, and probably lots of hot dykes making out in the front row. This is the Jenny Alien Experience: it’s punk, it’s irreverent, it’s hyperpop, and it’s painstakingly human.
Instagram: @jennyisanalien