Dupuis wrote the 10 songs that would make up Sad13’s debut album, Slugger, over a couple-week period while holed up in Philadelphia early last year. Inspired by a recently ended abusive relationship, Dupuis wanted to create a Pop album that explores the topic of consent from a female perspective — and do it via a rush of keyboards and soaring, candy-coated choruses.
Take “Just a Friend,” which plays off of Biz Markie’s song of the same name. Biz’s version is all about picking up a lady and opens with this couplet: “Have you ever met a girl you tried to date?/But a year to make love she wanted you to wait.” Dupuis’ version offers up a clarification — “Put away your old ideas about my friend Ben/True I love him big time, but I didn’t mean it like that” — before turning the tables (“Objectify these boys!”).
“The song is a response to (Biz Markie’s song) ‘Just a Friend,’ which I love, but I’m like, ‘Fuck you, Biz!’ ” Dupuis said in an interview with Elle late last year. “You should talk to a girl who’s just a friend. That’s the sign of a healthy, well-adjusted person who doesn’t view gender as a reason to befriend someone.”
“Get a Yes” is perhaps the most overt declaration in Dupuis’ exploration of consent, with her singing, “I say yes to the dress when I put it on/I say yes if I want you to take it off.”