Strange Girl is the brainchild of Devin Berg, a Dallas girl producing electronic-pop-singer/songwriter tunes and soundscapes out of her bedroom since the pandemic. Her music explores themes of nostalgia, growth, and love with her biggest inspirations being The 1975, Ethel Cain, Dijon Duenas, and her brother who performs under the name, HVZEL. Her first single "green 4 u" is out now on all streaming platforms and her cover of The 1975's "Ballad of Me and My Brain" will be out on February 24th.
Your stage name comes from an Airborne Toxic Event song. What about that specific song inspired you?
I come from a music-loving family where my parents introduced my older brother and I to the 80s greats like The Cure and New Order when we were babies. Then my brother got in a band and found his own music taste which I was also influenced by. (Shoutout to Winston who took me to my first concert!) When I was in high school, I spent a lot of time in my room listening to bands like The National, Say Hi, Matt and Kim, and the Airborne Toxic Event. Strange Girl is the song that just reminds me of growing up and finding my own sound.
How do you feel your songs have changed since you started making music?
So much and all the time! When I first started I was definitely writing more singer/songwriter stuff, just piano and my voice and usually about something incredibly personal. But now I find myself making much more experimental and conceptual stuff. I have an experimental playlist on my SoundCloud where I post all of those: https://on.soundcloud.com/EcvB7. Lately, I'm trying to allow myself the space to be creative and have fun. As I just heard in one of [her Berklee] grad classes, "don't forget to love the music" - I'm remembering to not forget these days.
Do you have a favorite song you’ve written?
Yes - It's called "Ethan Craft, if ur listening i love u" and it's a love letter to all the Disney Channel boys of the early 2000s, but the underlying message is about how growing up and realizing your innocence is behind you is a hard process. It's a heart-wrenching, nostalgic song with a lot of very fun, niche references to the shows. It's so fun to sing to a crowd of people from the same generation. It's not out anywhere.......yet!
I really liked the traffic light metaphor in “green 4 u.” How did you come up with that?
I saw a quote that said something along the lines of "I think of all the people I love as lights" and went on to say how they stay shining even if you're no longer there to see it. I've always found how people pass by each other in life so bittersweet - no one can stay forever and then they go on living -, so I wrote it as if to say "I'll always be here for you" to a person in my life. But as time goes on, the song becomes more about the idea that I will always be here for myself too. "you're a godsend you're a stranger I'm on fire damn no brainer" :')
What are you listening to currently?
Ooh, right now I'm on a massive Khraungbin kick. I love Dijon and Hippo Campus as well, but I am absolutely dumbfounded by this new artist, Mah Moud - I highly recommend his whole album "abdalla." It is a pure and captivating journey.
Listen to Strange Girl's new single "green 4 u" out now.