Tucker’s imagination goes to dark places, too, in the stand-out “Country Star,” a brooding ballad fit for Jack and Ennis’s tent.
Tucker, who came out as trans in 2017, says, “After many years of settling into my masculinity, I think that my relationship to other men definitely shifted.” He found himself drawn to the lawbreaking energy and stand-off dynamics of cowboys. Rather than living “comfortably” with a “sweet” little lady, the narrator of “Country Star” yearns to be utterly subsumed by a cowboy. “I wanna be your sin boy, baby,” Tucker sings. The musical backing is anything but country - spiky and sinister, with synths as jagged as broken glass. Tucker and Tividad feel no shame in divulging these fantasies. Throughout the record, they shower compassion on their younger selves, recognizing they’ve done the best they can. “I was looking at something that looked just like love,” they sing, on “Love333,” together, returning to the tight harmonies that made Girlpool’s name.