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Hit Like A Girl’s Nicolle Maroulis has accomplished a lot in the past few years. They’ve got two sincere pop-punk-inspired albums, You Make Sense and What Makes Love Last, under their belt, play keys with emo-pop outfit Kississippi, and in 2016 founded the nonprofit No More Dysphoria, which has provided support to over 100 trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people in need of financial assistance through the process of transition. Clearly Maroulis has already got enough to be proud of, but that hasn’t stopped Hit Like A Girl from upping their game.
Their new single “It’s Not Me” might be about hitting rock bottom, but its seething guitar, disarmingly direct lyrics and searching backing vocals are more winning than ever. The song begins with Maroulis “watching everything crumble to pieces,” and things only go downhill from there as they recount the partner they thought they would marry tossing their engagement ring into a river. “What will it take to make you happy?” they beg. “It’s not me.” It’s a harsh realization that can invite both utter hopelessness and the relief of finally letting go.
Maroulis explained the song’s origins over at FLOOD, detailing a relationship that failed in part because they had prioritized their music career:
Sometimes I still wonder if I made the right choice, sacrificing this person who I thought was meant for me to pursue my dreams of writing and performing music … I like to think that if she was right for me, she’d have stuck by me instead of dumping me, but of course those lingering thoughts of “what if” will always be there.
Listen to “It’s Not Me” via Bandcamp here and watch Hit Like A Girl perform the song at Daytrotter earlier this year below.