Locked In

Bali Baby’s got this new song Backseat and it’s doing exactly one thing: Avril Lavigne, early-2000s Disney Channel, pop-rock. She’s 20, from Atlanta, and she owns it without apology. The music video was shot in brutal cold—12 hours, permanent frostbite on her fingers—and she’s genuinely proud of that commitment.

She had some people interested in Banana Clip last year. Backseat is where you can tell she’s locked in on what she’s doing. The debut album’s called Baylor Swift, which made me smile (out May 8).

I don’t know if I’ll care about this in a month, but I respect the lack of confusion. No false originality, no apologies. Just solid pop-rock with a clear idea of what it wants to be. That’s worth something.