DIVA BLEACH DEFINES FEMME PUNK WITH THEIR NEW SONG “HATE ME”

Review by Iveth Sarabia

Duo Diva Bleach, out of Phoenix, Arizona, released their newest single “Hate Me”, on May 30, 2024. “Hate Me”, is only one of the four songs off of their recently released EP of the same name. The other three songs are, “Torn In Two”, “Kiss Her Goodbye”, and “Out Of My Head.” The duo will be touring this summer and are part of the line-up for the well-known summer festival, “Sad Summer Festival”, which features big-name artists like “Mayday Parade” and “The Wonder Years”, showcasing the popularity the duo has gained over a short period of time to have the opportunity to play amongst them since their establishment in 2020.
The newest song, “Hate Me”, starts off with a glitch-like sound that almost sounds like you are teleporting or falling into a different world. Vocalist Sydney Roten quickly comes in, her vocals and the instrumental reminding me of early 2000s femme pop punk. The first line of the song is, “Just one push, I don’t care if I’m falling down, my ears bleed from the people talking in the crowd,” setting the theme of feeling the judgment of others. The song continues with lyrics of self-questioning due to the judgment, “All these questions that no one can explain. Should it be this way? Do I need to change?” A very relatable theme, and lyrics, in a society where people have the liberty of negatively talking about anyone they want without really knowing them, especially in a social media-centric world.
There’s a shift during the chorus, the instrumental gets harder, elevating the excitement the song makes you feel. The tone changes too, with lyrics like, “I don’t care if I’m alone, I don’t need no one to save me,” and “Forget all I’ve ever known, I kinda hope that they all hate me.” Switching up the tone to one of not caring what those critics have to say and being a little “who f* cares anymore” with the last line. The instrumental mixes instruments like the guitar and drums with more synthetic, robotic, sounds. I first heard it in my car and found myself nodding my head along to it. I definitely see myself rocking out to it if I ever get the opportunity to hear it live. 

The second verse continues the theme of not caring, “You want the old me but you can’t have her, cause I’m a bad dream, a disaster, tried to fit in and it only made me sadder.” The time for facades has come to an end and through the act of self-acceptance, people have judged her, but that’s not her problem. The breakdown near the end of the song, where Sydney sings the chorus one more time with a twist was my overall favorite part, especially when she sang “I kinda hope that they ALL HATE ME” once more with an isolated vocal nailing the message in even more. The guitar and drums intensify driving adrenaline through your body as well. 

The fusion of lyrics, instrumental, and vocals all combine perfectly to create an assertive, “This is the real me and you’ll have to eat me as I am!” anthem. It’ll definitely bring the “Sad Summer Festival” crowd to life with crowd surfing and thrashing around to it. It’s a brilliant summer song, with a bright, fun, but aggressive, aura to it that’ll let you throw your cares away as you sing along to it. 

The accompanying music video opens with a visualizer of bright pink clouds and “DIVA BLEACH HATE ME” written over them with a rough brush font and a gradient color scheme that reminds me of the Lisa Frank aesthetic. Throughout the music video, Sydney and guitarist Brie Ritter rock out in front of interchanging backgrounds continuing the Y2K, bubbly, colorful aesthetic throughout the entirety of it. Pink, clouds, flashing stars, rainbows, flashing hearts, and a mix of glitchcore and vapor wave-like scenes accompany the matching song, creating an excellent visual representation of what the song not only sounds like but makes you feel too.  Both girls sport outfits to match, throughout the video they switch out outfits, sporting flared jeans with stitched star patterns, mini skirts, and shirts with messages like “GIRLS INVENTED PUNK ROCK NOT ENGLAND.”
Overall, the meld of the song and music video is the essence of what femme punk is, instrumentals that are hard and fast, yet lively and fun, energetic lyrics and liberation. I recommend you check out this new single, “Hate Me”, as well as the rest of the EP, which you can find on streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube and if “Sad Summer Festival” is coming to a city near you, don’t miss your opportunity to see Diva Bleach’s set and rock out with them.