Hyperpop…despite its glittery surface-level sound, it’s decidedly not just a genre for teenage girls. But let’s be honest, it’s primarily produced for and consumed by women of younger generations, so you need to cater directly to that audience. Enter NOT THE MAIN CHARACTERS, an L.A. “girl group” that’s really not all that different from The Supremes or The Go-Gos; they write about peer pressure, insecurity, bad friends and even worse guys but it’s only the dramatic, digital-age pop sonics that separate NTMC from their analog predecessors.
When you take this trio’s confidence and candor into account, it’s hard not to mistake them for pop protagonists. Their debut EP, bad things come in 3’s, leans into that superpowered mythos with sub-rattling bangers and party anthems for a new generation. NTMC dropped bad things come in 3’s last Friday, so make like Professor Utonium and witness the birth of an awesomely empowered triad with the album opener and title track, “bad things”!
–Jack Anderson
