A Rising Star: Penelope Scott

Penelope Scott is an artist who incorporates themes of the apocalypse into her love songs. In her song “Time of My Life,” she nonchalantly mentions the collision of planets and other apocalyptic events while accompanied by a smooth clarinet melody.

A student majoring in philosophy and with a background in piano playing, the young woman from California turned to music programming software during college. In an interview with The Line of Best Fit, she explained that this was due to the impracticality of having a grand piano in a dorm room. While her initial songs on TikTok were related to homework, her followers quickly became drawn to her upbeat nihilism. Her music has a blurred style, drawing influence from emo rapper Corpse, and her talent and sharp wit are reminiscent of Nellie McKay’s lo-fi sound. In 2020, Scott released her debut album, Public Void, following her mixtapes Junkyard and Junkyard 2. The breakout hit “Rät” mourns a time before Elon Musk when concepts like rocket ships and coding were still innocent. She also doesn’t hold back in her disdain for tech bros; her song “Cigarette Ahegao”, which includes the line “Hey incels, just have sex (duh)”, was oddly banned on TikTok.

Scott’s latest double EP, Mysteries for Rats/Girl’s Night, delves into the “terrifying horror of possessing a mind”. The album explores a variety of musical styles, with the first half featuring 8-bit melodies and the second half incorporating more traditional instruments like piano and guitar. However, it is Scott’s take on female guilt, whether it’s feeling impure in “Sin Eater” or falling for a serial cheater in “Gross”, that ties the different elements together. In “Cemetery Pigeons”, she paints a vivid picture of a cityscape full of vape smoke, pests, and sweat from face masks, while “Mexico” imagines a lonely death with a cocktail in hand. With all of this, it’s no surprise that Scott seems unfazed by the looming apocalypse.