The New It-Girl
Valerie - Josephine Network (Newer Music Friday)
I’ve been pretty fascinated with musical variety shows lately. I think it all started with a clip of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand that I saw when visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but this little obsession of mine has been dormant for years. However, this all changed earlier this year when I stumbled across The Midnight Special’s Youtube channel. As they continue periodically posting from their extensive archive, I’ve spent loads of time admiring the flamboyant showmanship of a show like that, when the artist’s name would be said with excitement and the camera would pan to them, the lights would go down, and suddenly you’re locking eyes with the band, unable to do anything but watch. While I’ve certainly seen modern performances that give me a similar feeling, it was not until I heard “Valerie” by Josephine Network that I got that feeling without a visual to accompany it.
This is only the latest from Josephine Network, but I would venture to say it’ll go down as one of her best. It’s one of the most put-together tracks I’ve heard in a while, one that captured my heart from the very beginning. “Valerie” is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a song that does a gentle lullaby groove just as well as an electric bluesy jam, switching from one mood to the other quicker than you can register. It’s thrilling to see unfold, a balancing act that is handled with ease, duh! How could you expect anything else??
The roadmap of the song is one that I don’t think I’ll ever get over. In the beginning segment, there’s this lovely acoustic hook that’s delivered perfectly with a sugary sweet innocence. I’ve sat here trying to figure out a cooler way to describe how this part makes me feel, but the truth is that this pink-tinged, doe-eyed intro just really makes me want to giggle and write in a diary or something! It only gets better from there, because suddenly here come the drums to stop those giggles and get you to really act it out! Seriously, I’ve lipsynced “Oooo Valerie/I won’t treat you like the boys do” in my mirror endless times since hearing this song, and I recommend everyone do the same. It’s an empowering line, one that seems to be said with a wink of the eye, yet also has a genuine desperation and sincerity to it that adds to the irresistible depth of the song.
In a world full of it-girls that range from Heather to Jessie’s Girl to Jolene to Sweet Caroline, I think Valerie and Josephine Network, of course, come out on top. Not only does the name fit right in, but Valerie’s also the subject of one of the greatest songs that have been released recently. One of the things that makes “Valerie” one of my favorite it-girl songs is the anticlimactic ending. “She left in a car/and so did I/I’ll see her again/next carnival ride” are lyrics that are simple yet sentimental in a way that makes it stick in the listener’s brain. If I had to buy tickets to Valerie’s carnival ride just to hear this song again, you bet I’d buy as many as they’d let me!
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