ANCHR'S Artist of the Day: Sir Babygirl
Sir Babygirl’s 2019 release Crush On Me can only be described as a haunted house painted pink and run by a bisexual Barbie doll. Sir Babygirl AKA Kelsey Hogue lives in hyperreal and excess. Sticky and relentless she moves through a head rush of crushes on the cheerleader, parties that have gone on for far too long, and self love. All with the dial turned as far up as possible. Crush On Me is fueled by anxiety and electro pop, it’s crying at the function and flirting with the wrong person. Hogue’s brand of pop, although bombastic and flirtatious, is tough and earnest. Perhaps a constant oxymoron she is sincere yet tongue-in-cheek, boy and girl, funny yet utterly serious. Hogue is trying to love herself and also not lose her mind- the two ideas not necessarily happening in response to each other. Although at times near histrionic Sir Babygirl is far from satire. Crush On Me is precise, ambitious, and sincere. There is extremism in both love and in self deprecation. She sometimes borders existential but the moments where she stops to observe and fine tune are the ones that allow for us to soak it all in. And there’s catharsis to it, in Hogue yelling “I changed my hair, I changed my hair” while being swept up into a high vibrato. Because like any gay she knows the ultimate way of dealing with crisis is with hair dye. When her voice is riffing and puncturing the top of the scale her vocal training shows and she is certainly representing her fellow Theatre Gays. Her climaxes shift from sweet to gritty, for as explosive or exaggerated as she sounds she’s never unrelatable. Hogue has a keen eye and careful introspections baked into each song. She’s a true craftsman as much as she is a party host. Sometimes I wonder if Hogue is Extra or really just enough.