Jaya Kang
In Snow Wife’s music video for “What Do Girls Do?,” premiering exclusively on The FADER today, she kisses, writhes, and lovingly strokes the face of a mannequin. But according to the Los Angeles-based pop singer, reading it as a display of woman-on-woman love would be a mistake. “Obviously, it can be a lesbian anthem,” she tells The FADER of her latest single. “But [it’s] more about what being a woman specifically means to you. What makes you feel like a woman and what doesn’t make you feel like a woman?”
In 2023, the rising singer and dancer turned heads with her debut EP, QUEEN DEGENERATE, a record that was filled with feverish raunchy anthems and sex-positive lines like “I’m a plan B regular bitch” galore. Lately, however, she’s been turning her focus inward — though that doesn’t mean the music is any less boppy. In the midst of preparing her next EP, on which “What Do Girls Do?” and her last single “Crazy” will feature, she caught up with The FADER for a conversation about watching lesbianism becoming a trend, discovering her die-hard fanbase, and channelling the versatility of artists like Teezo Touchdown in her new music.
The FADER: What’s the story behind “What Do Girls Do?”
Snow Wife: On a surface level lyrically, you can obviously interpret it as just being a lesbian song. But the reason I love the title and the phrasing in the song of, “what do girls do,” is because I think if you read a little deeper into it, it’s more to me a concept of “what does being a girl mean to you” and womanhood in general. That’s kind of how I based all the visuals.
Is that something you’ve been thinking about a lot personally?
Gender is something that’s interesting to me. I think expression has always been interesting to me. I just think that’s something that everybody in their lifetime should think about for themselves, no matter how you identify.
The transformation of the mannequins in the video seems like an important aspect.
It could’ve been so easy to make a traditional queer, lesbian take on that, that would have been the easier and more obvious direction to go in, but that’s not what I wanted people to take away from the song. Woman on woman relationships in general are very popular right now and very fetishized. There’s obviously upsides, it provides an awareness level for the community, but at the same time, I think it’s not necessarily commenting on the reality of being in love with a woman or or someone who is feminine in general.
I think that the mannequins were a good way of taking away the aspect of the human. It’s a symbol and not a human exchange, so it has less of an opportunity for it to be perceived as pornographic.
“Gender is something that’s interesting to me. Expression has always been interesting to me. I just think that’s something everybody in their lifetime should think about for themselves, no matter how you identify.”
It is strange to think of lesbians as a trend.
My partner and I have been observing it from our corner. It’s been an interesting thing to see. I think it’s important, especially right now for queerness to be made aware in general, so it’s not necessarily a negative thing. But I would like to provide more of an intimate perspective.
Your music videos always have great choreo. Who did you work with on that?
Lola Coghill is my main choreographer, and then Thiago [Pacheco] and Miles [Sherman] are my co-choreographers. I have been dancing with them since I was young. I think that there’s something so special about really developing with a choreographer, that’s something that used to happen in the 2000s. Lola, she’s Brian Friedman’s professional assistant, [who] really came into growing Britney Spears and her entire dance image.
You had a busy year last year. You released new music, you played some festivals, and I saw you sold out two shows back to back in LA and New York City. What’s been the most memorable part of performing live and navigating the pop star life in the real world?
I think what I noticed when I had my first two shows was how involved my fan base was. When you are having a career on social media, sometimes you mindlessly post and receive feedback, but I didn’t expect to have diehard fans! Everybody that bought a ticket to my show that I got to meet, they were really invested into my career and I think those types of fans are really hard to make, so I just feel thankful. It’s nice to have somewhere to put your energy and it’s not just going into a screen and it’s going into bodies.
You’ve posted that you’re currently working on your official first album. How’s the process going?
We’re actually doing another EP! I think the number one thing that I’ve been learning is that your artist’s career is long, not every single moment is so make or break. I’m paying attention to detail, but I’m also trying to not put this weight on it. It’s supposed to be fun and like, you’re not supposed to know what happens next, you’re not supposed to calculate what happens next.
Sound-wise, what have you been gravitating toward?
I’m very focused on creating projects that can easily transition into multiple sounds. Someone like Teezo Touchdown is somebody that I relate to as far as versatility [goes], and I think that with these smaller projects I’m really trying to establish myself as versatile. That’s what to expect from the next project: I’m not limited in what I can do in the future.
What’s an album or piece of art that you’ve found inspiring lately?
I really like 070 Shake’s most recent album. That was one of my favorite albums that came out last year. I think everything FKA twigs has been doing has been really inspiring. But honestly outside of art, I’ve really just been taking the past couple of months to really live my life. I’ve been emotionally growing up. I’m still also going through my early twenties, and I really wanna take that in, too, cause I don’t want my life to pass me by.
