‘Magic of Meghan’: How Dry Cleaning announced themselves to the world in style
When Dry Cleaning released their debut EP, Sweet Princess, in 2019, its lead single ‘Magic of Meghan’ took on an unlikely subject: the Royal Family’s most divisive new member, Meghan Markle. But the south London quartet surprised everyone with, not an anti-monarchy anthem, but one dedicated to the newly-minted Duchess.
At the time, Dry Cleaning had already established themselves as a strong live band, and ‘Magic of Meghan’ helped them introduce themselves to the world with their wonderfully weird sound and unique lyrics. Reminiscent of Gang of Four, the choppy guitar creates an addictive pace that makes poetry out of vocalist Florence Shaw’s signature spoken word.
Rather than expressing a stance on the monarchy or Meghan herself, the song is more of an antidote to the media scrutiny that she – and, by extension, all women in the public eye – is constantly under. When Meghan and Harry’s relationship became public, the response was staggering, turning them into the most talked about couple in the UK and beyond. News about the royal couple’s engagement broke the same day Shaw moved out of a long-term partner’s apartment, and following their story helped her cope as her breakup unfolded.
“For some reason, I found it really comforting to absorb all the information that was out there, the pictures and interviews,” she told the Scottish newspaper The National. In the song’s opening lines (“I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly”), Shaw directly quotes a Prince Harry interview, cleverly opting to speak through him to illustrate her own feelings.
She continues to borrow from the articles she had been reading at the time, forming a collage that blurs the lines between the opinions expressed in the press and her own. “They’re kind of little half sentences and sort of little couplets of words that I took from articles and rearranged and stuck together,” she told Australia’s ABC News. “So, a line will be half something of mine and a half something from a magazine”.
This also allows Shaw to spotlight how the media dissected – and continues to dissect – Meghan’s choices (“Never has one outfit been designed/ to send so many messages”) as a public figure often simultaneously subjected to intense love or extreme hatred. “You’re just what England needs, you’re going to change us,” Shaw continues, echoing the sardonic headlines barely concealing the misogyny and racism often running through articles about Meghan.
“I think how she has been portrayed is shockingly old-fashioned,” she told The National. “She is a human being and also a woman, and the way that women are written about in the press generally quite often is really disturbing.”
Unsurprisingly, ‘Magic of Meghan’ remains painfully relevant in 2024. Freshly married to Prince Harry, in 2019, Meghan was just entering the media frenzy that would come to define her life as of that moment. In the five years that have passed, the couple have been very vocal about choosing to distance themselves from the Royal Family, but the media still dissect their lives.
“Dry Cleaning think Meghan is really great,” Shaw told Dork at the time, saying that the song was in part a thank you to her “for her service”. At the same time, speaking on Australian radio she told Zan Rowe that the song is not necessarily about Meghan, but a general attempt to celebrate positive role models and draw attention to how harshly women in the public eye are treated.
“We’re so used to hearing women being talked about in a critical way that people sort of stopped seeing it, and I just wanted to flag it a little bit, but also say something positive about her.” Dry Cleaning have released two albums, New Long Leg in 2021 and Stumpwork in 2022. Sweet Princess, along with their other early EP Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks, were reissued on vinyl earlier this year.
