Pom Pom Squad Embrace Darkness and Vulnerability on Mirror Starts Moving Without Me
The initial success of Pom Pom Squad saw Mia Berrin more exposed than ever, and the band's latest album wrestles with the personal conflict she went through as a result.

It hasn’t exactly been plain sailing for Pom Pom Squad’s Mia Berrin since the release of their cult-favorite debut album Death of a Cheerleader in 2021. The time since has seen Berrin dealing with people’s outside perspective of her. Even at a smaller scale than pop stars, indie artists are ultimately still exposed to higher attention levels than what they may have been used to before. Berrin found outside noise began to overwhelm her, and Pom Pom Squad’s second record Mirror Starts Moving Without Me explores the resultant fluctuating relationship she’s had with her sense of self.
Opening track “Downhill” marks the start of a descent into a much darker sound found across Pom Pom Squad’s second album. “Never thought I’d feel so numb at 25,” Berrin declares on a song that feels as though she’s on the cusp of being swallowed whole, skirting the line between revival and disaster. This pivot to a darker aesthetic initially comes as a surprise, given the winking punk and lovelorn lyrics from Death of a Cheerleader, but it allows Berrin to embody her most interesting caricatures to date.
Pop culture references have always played a key part in the aesthetic of Pom Pom Squad. Watching movies and listening to music with her siblings was the “language of my household,” as Berrin mentioned in her recent Paste Digital Cover Story. On Death of a Cheerleader, she flipped the heteronormative perspective of teenage rom coms to a queer perspective, much like in recent media such as 2023’s Bottoms. Film has a profound influence on Mirror Starts Moving Without Me as well, with Jennifer’s Body, Black Swan and Alice In Wonderland all credited as inspirations.