On ‘Manicure’, a fresh set of nails becomes a weapon against an abusive man. It’s a pretty good introduction to the world of Scene Queen, where femininity and feminist anger make a formidable combination. With her new seven-track EP, METALICIOUS, Hannah Collins takes the sound she calls ‘bimbocore’ into heavier territory, without sacrificing the humour, pop hooks or political bite that made her such a distinctive voice in alternative music.
Released on 11 September via Hopeless Records, METALICIOUS follows her 2024 debut album Hot Singles In Your Area. It’s a record that refuses to separate the things women are so often told shouldn’t belong together: being feminine and furious, funny and confrontational, sexually confident and politically outspoken. Collins doesn’t see any contradiction, and neither should we.
Opening track ‘Pink Flip Phone’ establishes the mood with its insistent vocal hooks, aggressive guitars and unmistakable early-2000s influences. ‘Manicure’ takes things further, moving between sweetly delivered pop vocals and guttural screams. Inspired by The Chicks’ ‘Goodbye Earl’, it’s a revenge fantasy about protecting a friend from an abusive partner. The humour is outrageous, but the anger underneath it is entirely serious.
‘Shopaholic’ offers a more melodic moment, allowing Collins’ vocal range to take centre stage, while ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’, featuring TX2, brings together emo influences and an infectious chorus. ‘Tracksuit’ pushes the heavier side of her music further, switching between contrasting vocal styles and delivering some of the EP’s most aggressive moments.
Then there’s ‘T!ts Out At Brunch’, a title that could hardly belong to anyone else. Scene Queen understands how to turn the everyday trappings of femininity into something provocative, and how to have fun while doing it. Her lyrics frequently tackle subjects that might be uncomfortable in less capable hands, but humour gives her room to approach difficult experiences without allowing them to define her.
The title track, featuring deathcore band Left To Suffer, closes the EP with its most uncompromising collision of musical styles. Built around the experience of a girls’ night at a metal show, ‘METALICIOUS’ combines the rhythms of club music with heavyweight guitars and ferocious vocals. It’s a celebration of women taking up space in a music scene that hasn’t always made them welcome.
There are moments when the relentless shifts between pop and metal threaten to overwhelm the songs themselves, and some of the repeated hooks could use a little more development. But there’s also something refreshing about an artist who doesn’t feel obliged to make her music more restrained or respectable to be taken seriously.
What makes METALICIOUS particularly interesting is that its feminism isn’t confined to the lyrics. It’s there in the decision to embrace everything associated with being a ‘bimbo’ and refuse the idea that any of it makes a woman less intelligent, capable or deserving of respect. Collins takes the aesthetics that have so often been used to dismiss women and makes them central to her work.
Scene Queen has never needed to choose between being a pop star and a metal vocalist, or between having a laugh and having something important to say. On METALICIOUS, she’s making that point with some of her heaviest music yet.
METALICIOUS is out now via Hopeless Records.
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