‘Girls’: How The Dare’s cult hit became an unlikely Tiktok phenomenon
‘Girls’ by The Dare was forced upon me at first. By friends living in London who promised he was the next big thing. Friends who saw him instigating the indie sleaze revival on the other side of the Atlantic and desperately wished they could attend one of his Freakquencies parties in the Big Apple. Friends who, just over a year later, have proven to be absolutely correct in their predictions about The Dare.
The torrent of unabashed lust and adjacent misogyny in the song, perhaps expectedly, didn’t immediately win me over. The track was sleazy to its core, devoting its entire runtime to listing different types of girls Harrison Patrick Smith was interested in sleeping with. Tall girls, small girls, call girls, The Dare left no stone unturned on his soon-to-be cult single, ensuring that every type of girl got a shout-out amidst his unrelenting synths, even those on killing sprees.
Perhaps it was the bass-driven soundscape that pushed ‘Girls’ into my playlists, or over-exposure to the song by those around me, or fear that I might miss out on the next big thing. Maybe liking the song ironically had turned into actually liking the song. Whatever the reason, ‘Girls’ ended up on heavy rotation, at parties, on drives, and even during my workday.
‘Girls’ seemed like the kind of song that was destined to attract this kind of cult following but would never find success beyond it. It’s objectifying and abrasive, it’s silly and sleazy, and it’s certainly not radio-friendly. The Dare was all of the above, too. Though he donned a suit and tie on stage, his New York party-boy image stood in stark contrast to his polished wardrobe.
Fortunately for Smith, the sonic tide was about to turn in his favour. ‘Girls’ wasn’t an immediate hit. It found its way onto the playlists of people who existed within underground music spheres, people who read music journalism and scour the internet for new artists, and people who were looking for something fresh and fun, but it didn’t come anywhere close to mainstream radio play or widespread social media success.
Smith was picked up by Republic Records after releasing ‘Girls’ and the equally hedonistic ‘Good Time’, before releasing his EP The Sex, adding just two more songs to his discography. His cult following was secure, but it would soon become a full-blown phenomenon. ‘Girls’ had caught the attention of a popstar from England, who saw potential in his penchant for sleaze and synths.
From the moment Charli XCX incited Brat summer, The Dare’s music became primed for more mainstream success. It sat within a similar realm of nostalgia for the indie and club scenes of the 2000s, and when audiences grew tired of listening to Brat on repeat, it made sense that they would go looking for something that evoked a similar feeling.
This progression may have happened naturally, but it didn’t need to. The success of Brat summer was driven by collaboration, by mouth-dropping remixes and features from some of the most exciting names in the business. And The Dare was amongst them. Charli liked ‘Girls’ so much that she recruited Smith to produce one of the tracks for the deluxe version of her album, ‘Guess’.
Although it hadn’t been featured in the original release of Brat, ‘Guess’ completely took off. It was one of the purest examples of Brat hedonism, teasing listeners about the colour of Charli’s underwear and her lower back tattoo, and it took the internet by storm. But ‘Guess’ wasn’t the only song that would earn The Dare online success this summer.
Charli fans didn’t even need to check the production credits to find out who had helped her create ‘Guess’ because the ‘Von Dutch’ singer shouted him out in the song. “Send it to The Dare, yeah, I think he’s with it.” There couldn’t have been a better endorsement. Charli sent her own audiences to The Dare, promising them that he was with it, and ‘Girls’ experienced a second wind.
All of a sudden, it was impossible to escape the song on social media. You couldn’t scroll Tiktok without stumbling upon it, the sounds of Smith’s horny lyrics accompanying fit checks or videos of girls lip-syncing along. A song that seemed destined for underground greatness, a song that felt like some kind of inside joke in our friend group, was suddenly reaching hundreds of thousands of streams per day.
Timing seems absolutely imperative in Smith’s rise as The Dare. The world may not have been ready for ‘Girls’ when he first released it, but with Charli’s endorsement, the saturation of sleazy nostalgia, and the Tiktok-friendly nature of the admittedly slightly questionable lyrics, The Dare surpassed cult success and became integral to Brat summer.
There’s no telling whether Smith’s success will also show longevity. ‘Girls’, like all Tiktok hits, will come and go, but will What’s Wrong With New York? stay?
