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- June 25, 2022
Rightfield’s Newest Pop-Punk Single, “Boys Don’t Cry”, Tackles Toxic Masculinity
When the concept of Rightfield first came to fruition in their freshman year dorm room, Jack Blocker and Reed Hoelscher didn’t expect to garner nationwide attention for their “intimate bangers”. Yes, you heard me correctly: intimate bangers. Or at least that’s how the southern duo describes their discography of unique, genre-bending tracks. Drawing inspiration from their mutual love of alternative hip-hop and late 80’s hair metal bands, Rightfield skillfully blends musical styles that you would otherwise never expect to see together.
While some may see the two artists’ conflicting musical tastes as a deterrent, Rightfield saw it as an opportunity to create something new. Blocker and Hoelscher utilize their differing senses of musicality when creating; the two members begin their process by building an idea together, then manufacture the proposed track’s production and lyrical components separately. “When we have enough, we go apart,” Hoelscher explains. “Jack works on the lyrics and I work on the instrumentation, then we come back together to make the parts fit, and make it into one song.”
As of last night, June 24th, Rightfield has released their latest single, “Boys Don’t Cry”. Featuring hip-hop, pop-punk supernova JordyPurp, “Boys Don’t Cry” is a hyped-up, gritty masterpiece. The track features a fast tempo and powerful chords, anchored by a steady drum beat. The vocals, which transition smoothly between punk-influence and rap, are a shining example of Rightfield’s ability to meld various genres into one track. Rightfield and JordyPurp worked in unison to make two very different sounds fit together perfectly.
What is most prominent about the single, however, is the context of the lyrics. Growing up in the south, the duo frequently experienced the lasting effects of toxic masculinity. “Boys Don’t Cry’ is about us growing up in the south around a certain type of show no emotion hyper-masculinity where we had to be everything our dads wanted us to be”, explained Rightfield. “When I was nine I broke two of my fingers at school but we had a baseball tournament the next day and my dad was the coach so he asked me if I was good to still play the tournament and of course, I said yes instead of getting my fingers fixed. To this day I don’t have use of one of my fingers because I thought the right thing to do was “rub in the dirt” and move on.”
You can follow Rightfield and their upcoming projects on major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud.
