The Two Lips Capture the Hopes and Heartbreaks of Their Twenties in Debut EP, “girl, c’mon!”

Latina-Filipina LA-based duo Andrea and Jewlz, forming The Two Lips, are delivering ethereal dream pop and surprising rock moments in their debut EP, girl, c’mon! Released on November 7, girl, c’mon! deals with the triumphs and tribulations of all things girlhood and the transition to womanhood. Amounting to 19 minutes, the seven tracks are comprised of two pre-releases and five new tracks, including one featuring Rebecca Sugar. From platonic to romantic relationships, The Two Lips have seen and felt it all and have turned their sadness into success. 

Press Play! 

Girl, c’mon! opens with “play,” the first pre-release of the EP, and originally released when they opened for solo act Malcolm Todd. When hearing the title “play” or seeing the cute dance moment in the post-chorus, some may think it’s going to be a song based on just having a good time, but the theme through the soft dance track is much deeper. 

With both singers being in their mid-twenties, they’ve each had their share of the drama that comes with entering adulthood. During the chorus, they explain, “People drift, and people change” after stating, “If I’m the villain in your story / Let it play.” Releasing their ability to hold onto every narrative of themselves, Jewlz and Andrea are freeing themselves of growing pains and outside opinions. 

A New Side of The Two Lips

As “play” slips into “it’s complicated,” listeners tread into uncharted territory with the first unheard track. “It’s complicated” is reminiscent of early Avril Lavigne and fun 2003 rom-com soundtracks with a late ‘90s, early ‘00s gritty-yet-slick rock sound. The duo sings about everything they could be doing if only their relationships were perfect, while bold guitar and intense drums keep time with them. 

Though genre-bending is new to their discography, it doesn’t lose the signature sound of The Two Lips, with echoing vocals and strong, feminine riffs placed after the chorus. As the song progresses, so does their anger, until they end the song by giving up and simply stating in sync, “it’s complicated.” With the final line and similar base beats, the second track slips into the third— “enemy.”

Though the underlying instrumentals are similar, the topic of conversation couldn’t be more different. “Enemy” is surprisingly lighter and switches the narrative as the two come to see they are “their own worst enemy.” With every track, The Two Lips keep fans guessing at what comes next, adding surprise with every song. 

Each song on the EP also has its own visualizer featuring Andrea and Jewlz side by side. After the realization that they are sabotaging themselves and can free themselves from their own perspectives, flowers surround them while they dance and cut up tulips as “enemy” plays. While they dance, their layered voices create a tender and transcendent environment free of inhibitions. 

Though the pair know that everything takes two, and they aren’t fully to blame, so the song ends with a cheeky, “f*ck you as well,” which seems to be directed at the subject of “play” and “it’s complicated.”

Symptom of Time   

The EP takes a recognizable turn with track four, “something stupid.” The song reflects on the passage of time and seeing how it affects not just them, but others too. “Something stupid” is based on the heart-wrenching and anxiety-inducing feeling of realizing you’ve grown apart from someone, and even worse, you won’t be growing back together. Lyrically cinematic, it begins emotionally charged as the narrators look at photos of past friends, and understand that they don’t know that person anymore. 

Poignantly, they sing, “Hey, hope you’re alright / Everything changes / Symptom of time” before slipping into a nostalgia-infused chorus. Through these lines, juxtaposing the deep and painful thought is the backtrack, with an airier and orchestral instrumental featuring resonant strings and prominent drums. Slowly, the track starts to feel like a breath of fresh air, as the narrator becomes the girl who’s going to be alright. 

If you weren’t already feeling deeply understood by The Two Lips, “cup of tea” might take you there. While the other songs on girl, c’mon! deal with platonic and romantic love and heartbreak, “cup of tea” is all about the struggles of self-love and worth. The song starts with hypnotic “La la la’s” before painting their perspective through the first lines. “I hate that every time I eat / I instantly regret it / and even in my sleep / I dream of that girl’s aesthetic,” they sing.

The title comes from the nauseating feeling of aiming to satisfy everyone except yourself, expressed through the chorus when they sing of knowing that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. Though every song on the EP is raw, honest, and emotionally down to earth, “cup of tea” touches on the purest worries and insecurities of their feminine experience. 

For the Love of Love 

It’s hard to remove the romance from the girl, and The Two Lips are more than willing to deliver love songs of all kinds. “If you said,” the second and final pre-release before the EP came out, is all about doing anything for the one you love—platonically or romantically. As the longest song on the album, they have almost four minutes to declare their feelings, and every second is dedicated to getting that feeling across. 

In their previous songs, The Two Lips have allowed their voices to remain light and striking, but with “if you said,” they become more powerful and punching, enhancing the emotion behind every word. As a melancholy-toned love ballad, they sing during the chorus, “If you said ‘go’ I’d run / If you said ‘stay’ I’ll come to you / I’ll hold you softly till you tell me to leave and / If you said ‘love me’ / What else can I do?” The continued use of guitar and leading drums pushes the powerful and emotional ballad forward until the last minute, when they take the lead. It’s during this time that the euphoria of the track peaks, and the instrumentals get their moment, finalizing the mood and atmosphere they’ve created throughout the EP. 

The EP’s final song, “happy for me (feat. Rebecca Sugar),” adds a final sparkle and brings back the signature soft, echoing vocals that listeners love from The Two Lips’ earlier work. It is also the only song with a feature, created alongside Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe and a writer-songwriter for Adventure Time. Including atmospheric strings and higher timbre, “happy for me (feat. Rebecca Sugar)” is true dream pop and a fairy femme anthem. 

Full of whimsy, the pair galavants through a field of flowers in the visualizer that creates a hazy feeling until they bring the viewer back with a more grounded visual of them singing the lyrics side by side. As the song comes to a close, it sonically whisks listeners away to a wonderland perfectly curated by The Two Lips as they echo “happy for me” until it all comes to an end. 

Girl, c’mon! is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music. Make sure to stay up to date on all things The Two Lips on their Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 

Looking for more new albums to love? Read our full breakdown of Marilyn Hucek’s MARILYN here!