Locals (Girls Like Us)

"Locals (Girls Like Us)"
A kitchen displayed in a black-and-white 3D perspective, featuring shading and a prominence on a circular table with four chairs
Standard cover
Single by Underscores featuring Gabby Start
from the album Wallsocket
ReleasedJuly 12, 2023
Recorded2022–2023
Genre
Length4:18
Label
Songwriters
Producers
  • Underscores
  • Gabby Start
Underscores singles chronology
"You Don't Even Know Who I Am"
(2023)		 "Locals (Girls Like Us)"
(2023)		 "Old Money Bitch"
(2023)
Music video
"Locals (Girls Like Us)" on YouTube

"Locals (Girls Like Us)" (stylized in sentence case) is a song by American musician Underscores featuring American musician Gabby Start from the former's second studio album, Wallsocket (2023). It was released as the album's third single on July 12, 2023, through Mom + Pop. The album's artwork, title, and release date were announced alongside it. Underscores created the song to break away from the album's depressive nature, wanting to create a more fun track. She later sent its instrumental to Start, who quickly became interested in featuring on it.

"Locals (Girls Like Us)" features elements of electroclash and hyperpop, with critics often comparing its style to Kesha's early work. The song takes place directly after Wallsocket's preceding track, "Cops and Robbers", and follows a coming-of-age story revolving around three young girls, which resolves on the album's closing track, "Good Luck Final Girl". It received positive reviews from music critics, who often praised its composition and storytelling. The song was released alongside a music video, credited to both artists alongside Ayodeji and Chris Yellen.

Background and release

Underscores began recording Wallsocket in January 2022. She later signed to Mom + Pop, wanting to take advantage of a record label budget to be more ambitious with the album.[1] While recording, she found that its tone had become too depressing, citing that "everything was too sad. I wanted to have some fun." As a result, Underscores wanted to create a more upbeat track, and began working on "Locals (Girls Like Us)" to fill that role. She later sent its instrumental to frequent collaborator Gabby Start, who had featured on several of her songs. Start described it as an "absolutely crazy beat", immediately wanting to "hop on" the song after his first listen.[2][3]

"Locals (Girl Like Us)" was released as the third single for Wallsocket on July 12, 2023, via Mom + Pop. The album's title and cover art, along with its release date, were announced alongside the single.[2] It breaks the three-act structure[a] established by the music videos for previous singles "Cops and Robbers" and "You Don't Even Know Who I Am"; "Old Money Bitch" was later released in August as the third act.[4] The song was accompanied by a video, with its creation credited to both artists alongside Underscores's frequent video collaborator, Ayodeji, and Chris Yellen.[5] Wallsocket was later released on September 22, 2023, featuring "Locals (Girl Like Us)" as its second track.[6] Underscores frequently performed the song while touring for the album, considering it one of her favorite tracks to play live; she later told Beat that it was "engineered so that there would be a moment for people to open a moshpit".[7]

Composition

Critics tended to characterize "Locals (Girl Like Us)" as encompassing a variety of genres, including electroclash, glitch pop, and hyperpop.[1][2] They often compared its sound to other artists; Lisa Mag of DIY called it a hyperpop version of American musical duo Sleigh Bells, while Dork's Ali Shutler found it to mix styles from artists like Lady Gaga, Nine Inch Nails, and Gorillaz.[8] Several reviewers compared its beat to Kesha's early work, with The Line of Best Fit's Matthew Kim noting it had "a dance-pop instrumental that early Kesha could have faux-rapped over" and Paste's Natalie Marlin describing its sound as "somewhere between early Kesha's snark pop and the sneering electroclash of Peaches".[9][1] The song's sonics mainly consist of electronic instruments, with a guitar riff coming in during its breakdown.[3] Its production uses "intense" side-chaining, which Ella Sterand of Junkee pointed out as an instance of Wallsocket "exploring both ends of the compression dial" in the album's loud and quiet moments.[10]

"Locals" (Girls Like Us)" follows three young girls who live in the town of Wallsocket, the album's fictional setting. The song is presented as a coming-of-age story, with each girl trying to learn how to grow up following the bank robbery that takes place in "Cops and Robbers",[9][11] concluding by the album's closing track, "Good Luck Final Girl".[12] The song opens with vocal overlays,[3] which slow down into the repeated motif of "Arms, body, legs, flesh, skin, bone, sinew, good luck".[13] Its anthemic chorus[14] features the chant "Stop me if you've heard this one before / Girls like us are rotten to the core," which The Music's Ellie Robinson interpreted as "defiantly flip[ping] transphobic rhetoric".[15]

Critical reception

Critics often praised Underscores's production and writing on "Locals (Girls Like Us)".

"Locals (Girls Like Us)" received positive reviews from music critics. Victoria Lewis of When the Horn Blows called it "an ever evolving track that grows to new heights through each verse, chorus and breakdown", describing its sound as "fun and outgoing", feeling it "catches your attention on the first listen." She also praised Start's vocal performance, calling it "smooth" and "electric".[3] Le Canal Auditif's Stéphane Deslauriers found the song to be "[a] rather original dance piece", noting that it is not confined to one particular genre.[16] Writing for Ringtone, Amelia Zollner remarked it was her favorite of Wallsocket's four singles, praising its chorus and place in the album's storyline.[14]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from Underscores's website and the liner notes of Wallsocket.[17][18]

Notes

  1. ↑ The three-act structure does not refer to how the songs are sequenced on Wallsocket, but how they were released as singles.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Marlin, Natalie (December 12, 2023). "Inside the Immersive World of Underscores". Paste. Archived from the original on December 17, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 Green, Walden (July 12, 2023). "underscores announces new album Wallsocket, shares "Locals (Girls like us) [with gabby start]"". The Fader. Archived from the original on 2023-07-14. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lewis, Victoria (2023-07-13). "undercores - 'Locals (Girls Like Us)'". When the Horn Blows. Archived from the original on July 12, 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  4. ↑ Bush, Annie (September 22, 2023). "underscores | High Voltage, Old Money". Flaunt. Archived from the original on 2024-01-14. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  5. ↑ csweet (2023-07-15). "underscores Announces "Wallsocket" Out 22nd September via Mom+Pop & Shares "Locals (Girls Like Us) [With Gabby Start]"". Circuit Sweet. Archived from the original on 2023-12-09. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  6. ↑ Wallsocket by underscores on Apple Music, 2023-09-22, archived from the original on 2025-07-29, retrieved 2025-09-08
  7. ↑ Martin, Kaya (2024-05-29). "Madonna, The Sims and 'bro-country': Exploring the genre-bending world of Underscores". Beat. Retrieved 2026-07-09.
  8. ↑ Shutler, Ali (September 20, 2023). "Underscores – Wallsocket". Dork. Archived from the original on September 29, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  9. 1 2 Kim, Matthew (September 22, 2023). "underscores: Wallsocket Review - narrative driven success | Pop". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on 2023-09-21. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  10. ↑ Sterland, Ella (2024-06-03). "INTERVIEW: underscores Talks New Album 'Wallsocket'". Junkee. Archived from the original on 2026-01-03. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  11. ↑ Locals (Girls like us) [with gabby start], archived from the original on 2025-07-20, retrieved 2025-09-09
  12. ↑ Genolio, Bella (2023-11-25). "November Add of the Month: "Wallsocket" by Underscores". KCSB FM. Archived from the original on July 9, 2026. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  13. ↑ Keany, Noah (2026-03-01). "Girls Like Us: underscores' 'Wallsocket' and Trans Identity in Midwest America". afterglow. Archived from the original on July 12, 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-09.
  14. 1 2 Amelia, Zollner (November 7, 2023). "Wallsocket Is My New Hometown". Ringtone. Archived from the original on April 28, 2026. Retrieved 2026-07-09.
  15. ↑ Robinson, Ellie (August 4, 2024). "A Journey Into Wallsocket, Underscores' Fake Haven For Real Dreamers". The Music. Archived from the original on September 8, 2025. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  16. ↑ Deslauriers, Stéphane (July 13, 2023). "underscores - Locals (Girls Like Us) [with Gabby Start]". Le Canal Auditif (in French). Archived from the original on 2024-12-06. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  17. ↑ "Wallsocket (Director's Cut)". underscores.plus. Archived from the original on June 12, 2024. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
  18. ↑ Wallsocket (Liner notes). Underscores. Mom + Pop Music, Corporate Rockmusic. 2023.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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