Words By: Jordyn Kieft

Kansas-based trio BLACKSTARKIDS just released their highly anticipated debut full-length album Puppies Forever via Dirty Hit. After releasing their full-length project Whatever, Man last year, the group is back and ready to share how their experiences have made them who they are through witty banter, pop culture references, and genre-blending sound. Featuring hit singles such as “PISS DRUNK KIDS,” “ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS*,” “FIGHT CLUB” and “JUNO,” Puppies Forever combines old-school hip-hop flows with elements of pop bops, garage rock, and synth-punk.

BLACKSTARKIDS comments that, “Puppies Forever represents a time in our life that we wanted to document forever through the songs we were making. We wanted to do something that was bold, colorful, and expressive and it means keeping a piece of your youth alive within you forever.” 

Puppies Forever begins with “SO SWEET!” a soft track that talks about how life with the person you love is so sweet, instantly putting us in the good mood that BLACKSTARKIDS wants us to feel throughout Puppies Forever. “JUNO” follows “SO SWEET!,” trading the pop notes for a garage rock style. Ones To Watch describes “JUNO” as “the sort of rare track that combines all your teenage phases into one intoxicating amalgamation.”

In the middle of the album, BLACKSTARKIDS include their three hit singles “FIGHT CLUB,” “ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS*,” and “PISS DRUNK KIDS.” The trio launches out of the gate and directly into your face in “FIGHT CLUB” as they ooze with swagger and trade-off verses with ease in this serotonin-laced indie pop bop. BLACKSTARKIDS then gives us a political, pop-punk-inspired anti-authoritarian anthem that hits back at police brutality, abuse of authority, and inherently oppressive systems with “ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS*.” The group ends with “PISS DRUNK KIDS,” an escapist banger that revels in the freedom of being intoxicated with your friends as a means of distracting yourself from negative emotions and life’s problems.

The album concludes with “SOMEDAZE*” a synth-punk banger that provides a sense of hope, acceptance, and self-discovery while putting you in a reminiscent mood that reignites the feelings of your youth.

Members Ty, Deoindre, The Babe Gabe first started their career as BLACKSTARKIDS with their “black coming of age trilogy” with Let’s Play Sports in 2019, Surf in 2020, and Whatever, Man. Whatever, Man included many hit singles including “BRITNEY BITCH,” “ACTING NORMAL,” “TANGERINE LOVE,” and “FRIENDSHIP.” Each album is influenced by the sounds of artists like Toro Y Moi, N*E*R*D, Smashing Pumpkins, and Weezer. DIY agrees, commenting that “[BLACKSTARKIDS] make experimental nostalgia-tinged pop bops, mixing elements of hip-hop and indie into dazzling bangers.”

BLACKSTARKIDS is currently on tour with Glass Animals but will embark on a nationwide, 26-date tour alongside Christian Leave in support of beabadoobee on November 1st, 2021. They will be stopping in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Receiving critical acclaim and praise from MTV, UPROXX, Billboard, Forbes, and more, BLACKSTARKIDS are, as Coup De Main argues, showing “no sign of stopping, or being tamed, anytime soon.”