Who Are the Girls? is the debut studio album by English rock duo Nova Twins, released 28 February 2020 through 333 Wreckords Crew. With the exception of "Lose Your Head", which was produced by Kevin Van Bergen and released as a single in 2018, the album's songs were recorded with producer Jim Abbiss at his Lime Green Monkeys recording studio in Saffron Walden between Nova Twins' tours of Europe in 2019. A genre-bending album predominately mixing elements from electropunk, electronica, hip-hop, grime, nu metal, and punk rock, Who Are the Girls? features energetic compositions and an abrasive sound that was intended to reflect that of Nova Twins' live shows. Lyrically, it centeres on themes of social injustice, sexism, racism, empowerment, diversity, and individuality.
Who Are the Girls? received critical acclaim, with music critics praising its unqiue and innovative sound, energy, and lyrical themes. The album placed on several end-of-year lists whilst its fourth single, "Taxi", won the "Best Music Video" award at the Heavy Music Awards 2021. Although most of Nova Twins' touring plans in support of Who Are the Girls? were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, internet word-of-mouth surrounding the album would help raise their profile during this time and led to the establishment a dedicated fanbase for the duo. In 2021, Nova Twins toured with Bring Me the Horizon and Enter Shikari and released a deluxe edition of the album featuring remixes of "Undertaker" by Fever 333 and "Bullet" by Dream Wife.
Background and recording
Nova Twins were formed in London in 2014 by guitarist and vocalist Amy Love and bassist and backing vocalist Georgia South. The duo released their debut single "Bassline Bitch" in 2015, followed by their eponymous debut extended play (EP) in 2016.[1] Nova Twins performed around London and began playing festivals in the United Kingdom and Europe and toured with artists including Prophets of Rage and Little Simz.[1] After releasing the Thelma & Louise and Mood Swings EPs in 2017 and releasing a few more singles,[2] including the Kevin Van Bergen-produced "Lose Your Head" (2018),[3][4] Nova Twins wrote and recorded Who Are the Girls? in between their tours of Europe in 2019.[5] Both members would generally "vibe off" each other when writing and change things they felt didn't work.[6] South generally wrote the music whilst Love composed "top line[s]".[6] Shortly after they finishing writing, Nova Twins were sent an email by producer Jim Abbiss,[7] whom had been introduced to their music by a member of Nothing but Thieves;[8] the duo decided to with him after meeting and completing a song together.[7]
When we record in the studio, we want everything to be played live. With [Who Are the Girls?], that was our manifesto. Every riff, every sound, it has to be able to be portrayed live [...] We want to just do it all, tap-dancing [pedals] onstage, very manually.
Recording sessions for Who Are the Girls? were held at Abbiss's Lime Green Monkeys recording studio in Saffron Walden.[4] Love played a Gretsch Double Jet guitar through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe combo amplifier,[10] whilst South used a Westone Thunder 1[6] and a combination of Gallien-Krueger MB 212 and Marshall Valvestate guitar combo amplifiers.[11] Moreso than on their previous releases,[9] both members utilized an extensive collection of guitar and bass pedals,[10][11][N 1] which they and Abbiss attempted to procure "glitches" from.[1] Nova Twins wanted the album to have no additonal instrumental layers beyond guitar, bass, pedals, and drums,[6][12] and recorded their songs live without the use of samples, synthesizers, or backing tracks.[1][9] The duo were joined in the studio by drummers George McDonald and Tim Nugent;[4] South felt both drummers brought "two different energies" to the album's songs, with Love highlighting McDonald's heavier rock style and Nugent's "hybrid hip hop sound".[13] The duo continued to tweak the album up until ten minutes before they had to submit it.[8]
Musically, Who Are the Girls? features energetic compositions[15] and an abrasive sound intended to reflect that of Nova Twins' live shows.[8][16] Its songs are primarily driven by South's basslines, which Josh Gray of Clash likened to a "dirty, street-gutter rumble",[22] whilst Love performs "screeching" guitarwork[15] that Ellie Robinson of Guitar World described as "grungy and punchy and almost dubstep-esque".[26] Love intended her guitar parts to "add nuance" to South's basslines with "little hip-hop lines here and there or tiny color counterparts",[11] and played them in a high octave to cut through the heavy bass sound.[10] Her vocals range from falsetto singing[10] to snarls;[22] Tyler Damara Kelly of Dork described them as alternating between "psychotic baby doll and razorblade rasp".[27] Stephen Dalton of Classic Rock wrote that whilst the album was a "pretty relentless stampede", tracks such as "Bullet" and "Athena" showcased more "nuanced elements beneath [its] chaos" with their "melodic interludes".[28]
The album's lyrics, drawing inspiration from Nova Twins' personal experiences and social politics,[7][13] center on themes of social injustice,[15]sexism, racism,[29] empowerment,[30] diversity,[6][30] and individuality.[15] Its title, derived from the opening track "Vortex",[31] is a ironic reference to the lack of representation and diversity at rock concerts and festivals that Nova Twins attended and performed at.[16][22] Love said that the title was already painted onto the car featured on the album cover and that Nova Twins used it as they felt it "was the embodiment of what we were trying to say" and was "kind of abstract".[31]
Songs
"Vortex" is a female empowerment anthem that South described as representing the "ravey" side of Nova Twins' sound, which is self-mythologically referred to in its title and lyrics.[32] Using dynamics to create what Damon Taylor of Dead Press! described as a "blistering and squealing crescendo", the song progresses from "sliding" basslines into "clamouring" drums and "screeching" guitars,[33] with Love's vocals alternating between spoken word verses and screaming.[34] "Play Fair" was intended as the "ultimate revenge tune" for people being held back by others,[35] and displays distorted instrumentation with "grimey" basslines and "scattered" guitarwork.[33] "Taxi" imagines Nova Twins driving in a pink Cadillac as "taxi-driving hit-girls"; the song was written with its video concept in mind, which was inspired by the action films Blade Runner, Kill Bill, The Matrix, and Sin City.[36] Manuel Berger of laut.de highlighted the song for its complex arrangements of melody, rhythm and "sound experiments" underlying its "squeaking, filthy wall of noise".[15] "Devil's Face" addresses Nova Twins' experiences with covert racism at the height of Brexit.[5] "Not My Day" is about allowing oneself to be vulnerable and act out instead of masking themselves.[8] Musically, the song blends chanted vocals with gliding bass lines and "colliding" distortion.[33]
Nova Twins intended "Bullet" to encourage women to fight back against scrutiny for their sexuality[8][37] and sexism and harrassment,[38] which are illustrated through the use of repetititve wolf-whistles and a verse at the end of the song referencing misogynistic rap music clichés.[15][20] "Lose Your Head" is a song about celebrating difference[3] that Jenessa Williams of NME compared to Nadia Rose, Limp Bizkit, and the Basement Jaxx song "Plug It In".[39] "Ivory Tower" diverges from the rest of the songs on Who Are the Girls? with its balladic composition.[33][28] Love said the song was intended to show Nova Twins could be "energetic as well as intimate"; South said that its demo version was reused on the album as Abbiss was unable to recreate its atmosphere and energy in the studio.[7] Gray imagined "Undertaker" as the result of The Prodigy's Liam Howlett "re-pitch[ing]" the songs of Rage Against The Machine.[22]Who Are the Girls?'s closing track "Athena" features "fictional and mythological" lyrics,[21] and experimental hooks and vocal patterns;[33] the album subsequently ends with a "thunderous battering of bass and screeching vocals".[27]
Nova Twins released "Devil's Face" and "Vortex" as singles in June and September 2019, respectively.[40][41] On 3 December 2019, the duo announced Who Are the Girls? and their signing to Jason Aalon Butler's record label and collective 333 Wreckords Crew as its first act.[42] Butler asked Nova Twins to join 333 Wreckords Crew after seeing them perform at the 2018 Afropunk Festival,[43][44] and gave them ownership of the master recordings of their releases through the label.[44] After the release of "Taxi" as its fourth and final single,[36]Who Are the Girls? was released on 28 February 2020.[42]
Nova Twins had planned to support Who Are the Girls? with extensive touring throughout 2020, which included scheduled performances at the Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds festivals and shows in Russia and the United States.[45] After embarked on a short headlining tour of the United Kingdom in early February 2020,[43][46] Nova Twins played ten shows in France before the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to scrap the remaining dates and return to the United Kingdom on 13 March 2020.[45] After three weeks, the duo began writing their second album, Supernova (2022), and started interacting with fans online more.[47] They also played some virtual live shows,[21] and garnered attention for hosting the Instagram Live show Voices For The Unheard and their collaborations with Tsar B and Bring Me the Horizon.[48]
Internet word-of-mouth surrounding Who Are the Girls? helped raise Nova Twins' profile during the pandemic and led to the establishment of a dedicated fanbase for the duo;[49][50] Lou Boyd of The Red Bulletin considered the album to be "one of the success stories" to come front that time,[51] whilst Emma Wilkes of DIY called it a sleeper hit.[52] South believed that the pandemic afforded Nova Twins greater publicity and that the duo were suprised by how may people discovered Who Are the Girls? during that time;[39] Love likewise believed the album would not have performed as well had they solely focused on their live shows.[53] On 18 September 2020, a music video for "Play Fair" was released.[35] In April 2021, Nova Twins released remixes of "Undertaker" by Fever 333 and "Bullet" by Dream Wife,[54][37] and embarked on a headlining tour of the United Kingdom.[35] After supporting Bring Me the Horizon on a September 2021 arena tour of the United Kingdom,[49] Nova Twins released deluxe edition of Who Are the Girls? on 5 October 2021,[55] featuring the "Undertaker" and "Bullet" remixes.[54] In December, the duo toured as a supporting act for Enter Shikari.[56]
Who Are the Girls? received critical acclaim.[59][60] On review aggregator website Metacritic, the album holds a score of 81 out of 100, based on reviews from four critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[57]Kerrang!'s Longbottom highlighted the album's "furious themes" and "explosive energy" and declared Nova Twins' sound to be unique in the current rock music scene.[16] Taylor of Dead Press! said the album showed "a duo pushing both boundaries and themselves forward" and felt Nova Twins had "not only crafted a defiant and unique sound, but also a record with important narratives that demand to be heard."[33] Maria Serra of Alternative Press believed its "out-of-this-world songwriting" would "bring a much-needed refresher to the heavy rock scene."[23] Summann of Distorted Sound believed the album was "arguably the next sound of the [2020s]" and that it would make listeners "reconsider what defines 'angry punk' from a new perspective that’s been overlooked and white-washed for decades".[20] In the closing paragraph of his review for Clash, Gray remarked: "You have never heard two women have this much fun with a metric fucktonne of distortion pedals, but if you do in the future, then the way will have been paved by Nova Twins."[22]
NME's Ali Shutler lauded Who Are the Girls? as "a colourful and hyperactive record that refuses to play by anyone else's rules".[21] Sophie Williams of Guitar.com called the album "incendiary, utterly invigorating debut" and felt that Nova Twins' nonconformist attitude to genre made them "all the more enticing".[61] Kelly of Dork praised the duo's performances and dynamics,[27] whilst Serra highlighted the "powerful personalities" they dispayed in the album's lyrics.[23] Berger of laut.de praised Nova Twins' abilities to mix hooks into their aggressive sound and compared the duo's mixing of genres with Fever 333; he felt that the former's tendency to "condense everything into two-to three-minute fire pots" instead of "compartmentalizing" styles into individual songs like the latter did made most of Who Are the Girls?'s tracks feel largely similar to each other, resulting in an "extremely homogenous overall impression and incredible impact".[15] Ben Lynch of DIY felt that Nova Twins were occasionally "overzealous with the effects" on songs like "Taxi", but commended their "gripping collision of influences" on the album and "commitment to doing it so forcefully".[34] Max Skefton of The Skinny said that whilst the album "[offered] rock music from a fresh perspective, it did sometimes have issues with consistency and pace".[62]
Who Are the Girls? was listed as one of the best albums of 2020 by Alternative Press,[23]Distorted Sound,[63]Kerrang!,[17] and Louder Than War.[64]Guitar.com listed it as one of the Best Guitar Albums of 2020,[61] whilst Loudwire and NME listed it as one of the year's best debut albums.[65][66] At the Heavy Music Awards 2021, Nova Twins were nominated for the "Best UK Artist" award, whilst "Taxi" won the "Best Music Video" award.[67][68] The album received further praise from artists including Tom Morello and Oli Sykes; Bria Michel of Nylon noted that "[e]ven without the celebrity shoutouts, [the] album racked up millions of streams and established Love and South as seasoned heavy-metal artists."[60] In 2021, Emma Wilkes of DIY wrote that the visibility brought to Nova Twins following the album's release "felt genuinely important, the start of a paradigm shift where young Black women going to rock shows could see people on stage who looked like them."[14] Elizabeth Aubrey, writing for the Evening Standard in 2022, opined that the award nominations and tour support offers Nova Twins received following its release was indicative of there being "more willingness to take a chance on [rock] bands doing something genuinely new and exciting with the genre".[59] In 2025, Laviea Thomas of Louder cited Who Are the Girls? as an example of albums showing artists experimenting with rock music during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, alongside Poppy's I Disagree and Loathe's I Let It In and It Took Everything.[69]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Amy Love and Georgia South.[4]
Who Are the Girls? – Standard edition track listing
↑ Crudgington, Kate (27 February 2021). "Interview: Nova Twins". Get In Her Ears. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
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