Pink Nasty

As a Pink Nasty novice, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that her musical style is a cross between Weezer and Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis. Hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Sara Beck, aka Pink Nasty, is rapper Black Nasty’s sister (apparently Black Nasty gave his little sis her name). She describes her music as "neurotic pop", which—as a feminist—I want to reject: is it based on the notion that heartfelt, raw lyrics are neurotic, or more specifically ‘neurotically female’? (Or, maybe I am just being a little neurotic).

Sara Beck has a powerful voice and makes no excuses for her bold lyrics that tell the story of inner monologues and conversations and arguments we’ve all had. In Pink Nasty’s own words, her music is “as if Julian Casablancas and Rivers Cuomo had a baby and guess what—it’s a girl!”

If she was your friend, she’d probably write you long emails of run-on sentences, spurting platitudes as well as brilliant insights. But count yourself lucky, you can hear her do that. She is one who could sing love ballads for a living with big studio-produced backing but we are fortunate that she has chosen the country/alt. rock combo that can have you nodding your head, banging your air-drums or quietly gripping that place where your heart is because at the end of the day, the drama of relationships and all the ‘neurosis’ it can deliver is universal. And, it sounds sexy as hell. Just listen to this line that got stuck in my head on the Underground so hard that I wanted to shout it out: "Down in the dirt, in my skirt, I will waaaaait!" (“Prince Pavement”). Is it just the banality of stringing together words that rhyme? Find out for yourself. This one is worth a listen.

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