Richmond Singer-Songwriter Lucy Dacus Doesn’t Want To Be Funny Anymore
“You can’t always be jolly or vivacious or clever or positive, but when people expect that from you, you don’t wanna let them down.”
Like a young Courtney Barnett, Richmond singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus hits the nail on the head with her new single "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore." The song is off her debut album No Burden, which is out February 26 via EggHunt Records.
Dacus told The FADER over e-mail that while writing the song, she was thinking about "how stressful it is to be pegged as a certain type of person and feel the need to always live up to that identity people assign to you, especially if you're the 'funny one.'" She continues, "You can't always be jolly or vivacious or clever or positive, but when people expect that from you, you don't wanna let them down." Yes, girl. The feeling of being stuck in one archetype isn't very fun.
Dacus says she remembers being the "funny one" when she was growing up, and "always envying other tropes, thinking like, 'why can't I be the cute one, the smart one, the mysterious one, the one that's good at dodgeball?'" Now that she's older, she knows she doesn't have to be stuck in a box, but that "there are still times people get sick of living up to what people expect of them." I don't want the joke to be on me, she sings. Try not to laugh/ I know it'll be hard/ I'm serious/ I know it's a first, but...That funny girl/ doesn't wanna smile for a while. It's that kind of introspection that makes "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore" so charming. It doesn't hurt that Dacus' sweet voice is the kind that gets under your skin, and that the track's beat and hooks are on earworm level. Stream "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore" below.