Sadie Dupuis, Slugger

Earlier this year, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis relocated from Massachusetts to Philly, churning out the dark, dreamy solo work that became Sad13. Slugger draws from the effervescence of Nineties radio pop, traces of R&B, and runs on Dupuis’ brainy songwriting and themes of female empowerment and sexual consent. She plays Mohawk next Wednesday.

Austin Chronicle: Speedy Ortiz’s Foil Deer was outward-facing, grounded in social commentary, and Slugger is even more so. Is that the direction you’re growing into thematically?

Sadie Dupuis: Yeah! It’s funny because I feel like these are the topics I’m always writing about. Maybe as I get older I gravitate less toward laboring over a really complicated, poetic line with four hidden meanings. I think with the first Speedy record, I very much viewed lyrics as a kind of puzzle and was trying to accomplish a lot. On the last record that was true, too, but there were certain things I wanted to be more direct about.

Given the nature of Slugger, I’m trying to do more of a pop record, and it would be strange to go in a really twisted and complicated way with the lyrics on something that’s supposed to be pop. It’s part of the very core of pop music to transcend and be accessible. I think that has to apply to the lyrics, too, to some degree.

So these are themes on previous records, but they’re way more up front now.

AC: People write off “PC culture” as intellectualized, unsexy, inaccessible, etc. Yet here you have a song like “Get a Yes,” which is explicitly about consent in this fun, pop, bubblegum package. Quite the juxtaposition.

SD: Yeah, I was trying to do it in a fun and positive way. Because there are many people who are like, “This isn’t a sexy topic,” but I actually can’t think of a more sexy topic. I don’t know, is rape culture sexy? I think that’s what’s reinforced by pop music. I very much consciously wanted to do a fun, upbeat-sounding song, because it should be a fun, upbeat topic and process.

AC: This album’s incredibly relevant now that we’ve elected a sexual predator as our president. Is the change in the political and social climate in this country affecting your shows so far?

SD: Well, the first couple shows we did were Pennsylvania and Ohio, where I think a lot of people are feeling very alarmed about the shared belief that are presented by their states. It’s such a shocking and saddening outcome for our country, and for us, and for our friends. It’s hard to know what function art can have in helping people in a really uncertain and scary time.

I would never want to be self-aggrandizing and say, “Art’s gonna heal us all,” but I think a lot of people are really upset and if our show provides any kind of positivity, that’s really cool to be able to provide that. And certainly we’re kind of brainstorming about ways we can spread awareness, positivity. I think people don’t really know the best course of action [pause] to prevent our country from deteriorating into a cesspool of bigotry.

It’s not like these songs are written in a vacuum. The elements of our political climate that contributed to this election were present in January, and willfully present. The forces of evil that were freaking me out when I wrote the record now have a lot more control over our laws. So I don’t know. I guess I’d write a different record if I wrote one today [laughs].

AC: At Jessica Hopper’s SXSW panel earlier this year, she described always being approached as a “woman music writer” about “being a woman in music.” You’ve been vocal about having that happen as a female musician.

SD: I get that less and less as time goes on. Or maybe after a few years of interviews, I feel like journalists who are on the same page as you are are the ones who get you for interviews. So I’m kind of lucky and spoiled for the ignorant, gender-first profiling.

Every place that hires Jessica Hopper, their coverage benefits from putting her in a place of power, because she’s so invested in bringing in voices that have been cut out from mainstream media. Look at the way MTV News is conducting itself this year. I can’t imagine we would have that many amazing young talents otherwise. There’s even a song on the record where Jessica Hopper interviews gave me inspiration for the lyrics, which is “Line Up.”

This whole album cycle, I don’t know how many interviews I’ve done, but it’s like triple digits [laughs], and I feel like I’ve only had one person be like, “So, what’s it like to be a woman on tour?” Only one! And that’s very different from the first press cycle I did for Speedy. That’s positive.

AC: Was there a palpable turning point in your life where you transformed into such an outspoken feminist?

SD: That’s always been a part of my life. My mom is a pretty outspoken person who’s always been politically engaged. I was going to protests with her when I was a kid, so that’s a part of how I was raised. Also, I grew up in New York City.

Then, for middle school, my mom moved to a pretty rural part of Connecticut, fairly conservative. Growing up, spending puberty in a place like that – where it’s a nice small town but people have all these sort of backwards beliefs about how your identity should contribute to what you can take on – I became bratty and self-defensive [laughs], and really pursued the things I wanted to do.