Kevin Bronson on September 11th, 2022

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Catching up with recent singles from Beginners, King Mala and Broken Baby — stream them all …

BEGINNERS, “Goodbye, Good Luck”

The new single from Beginners is a banal chorus away from being a massive radio hit … in 1996. “Goodbye, Good Luck” is from the forthcoming EP “If the World Is Ending” (out Nov. 2), and a hook is a hook, we guess. A collaboration with electronic pop wiz Robert DeLong, the song sounds like something FM radio would have embraced in the ’90s, except for attempting to out-FIDLAR FIDLAR. Beginners’ Samantha Barbera says of the tune: “Both Robert and I normally incorporate a lot of electronic elements into our music, so doing a more indie-rock driven song like ‘Goodbye, Good Luck’ was a breath of fresh air for both of us. Especially since we both grew up with rock and punk as our main influences. It was really cathartic to lean into my angsty broken-heartedness on this song. ‘No one tells you life’s a bullet / You might die alone’ while also kinda keeping it fun and taking the piss with lines like ‘This shit fucking sucks / You always seem to find a way to go and mess it up / Goodbye, good luck / Trying to find your Pixies T-shirt in the trash truck.’” No! Not the Pixies shirt. Beginners introduced the new EP with the single “I Hate That I Love Brooklyn” in July.

KING MALA, “I Hope You Know What You’re Doing”

It’s the bass line that leads you down the rabbit hole on songwriter Ariel Castro’s third single of 2022, “I Hope You Know What You’re Doing.” It’s the follow-up to “Punchline” and “Cult Leader,” as King Mala works toward releasing an EP later this year. “IHYKWYD is about being led on but loving the chase,” she says. “I was absolutely in love with this girl who was so into me one day, then ice cold the next and I kept holding out hope that it would work out. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, or just bored, but there’s something about someone who is just out of your reach that is so exciting (in an “I’m going insane” type of way).” King Mala opens for Upsahl on Sept. 29 at the Constellation Room and
on Oct. 22 at the Roxy.

BROKEN BABY, “Make Manager”

We never got past assistant, so Broken Baby’s first single since their 2021 album, “Late Stage Optimism” is, on its face, inspirational. Read between the lines, though, and this thorny pop-punker is “a cheeky song about the abuse of power,” Amber Bollinger says. “The idea that if you start at the bottom and take advantage of everyone along the way, you’ll get to the top. Isn’t that miserable! And yeah, sure, we wanted to write a song that gets you moving and gives you permission to scream and let it all out.” Maybe “Make Manager” will, as they suggest, inspire you “finally ask for that raise you so very much deserve.”