The Singles Bar: Glitterfox goes for a ‘Drive’

Welcome to The Singles Bar, a review series focused on new single and song releases.

Andrea Walker (they/them) knew they were gay when they were seven. Naturally, they didn’t quite grasp what that meant exactly; it was 1989 after all. “I knew that the movie scene with Goldie Hawn that I’d just watched with my family made me feel something I’d never felt before,” says Walker, who co-leads Glitterfox with Solange Igoa (they/them), “and honestly, it terrified me. There wasn’t any gay representation on TV or anywhere in my little world. So, I was left with this feeling down to my core that there was something terribly wrong with me and no one could ever find out.”

With the band’s electric new song “Drive,” Walker reclaims their younger self and speaks directly to who they once were — “that person with such huge feelings and confusion who was silently struggling with so much,” they explain, “but just yearning all the time to get out of the south because I knew there was something better out there for me. Somewhere better. But physically leaving an oppressive environment doesn’t just fix the damage from growing up in years and years of isolation, internalized transphobia, and homophobia. You can leave a fucked up situation, but you take the damage with you.”

“Drive” pulses with brilliantly violent percussion, underscoring in red highlighter Igoa’s warble. “Forever I drive,” their voice rings clear, a gentle ripple quaking outward. The refrain comes and goes, ebbing and flowing in the flurry of drums and guitars. “Stranger in the mirror / Full moon in a hungry heart,” they crack open the first verse. Such fangy imagery characterizes the lyrics and allows the audience to picture the story exactly as it is. The smoldering song surges with an emotional charge. It grips you around the throat and won’t let go. It’s the sort of release that’s both cathartic and rebellious.

Listen to “Drive” below.

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