The promotional text for Pussycat's release suggests that by the end of 2016 Juliana was unsure of her songwriting future - to the extent that she considered that part of her career as "on hiatus." Her recent output tended to support that - 2015's Whatever, My Love record as The Juliana Hatfield Three was almost entirely old songs reworked, 2016's The I Don't Cares album was mainly Paul Westerberg songs with Juliana as muse, and while there's talk of new Blake Babies songs to come, she wouldn't be the only writer in such a project.
That Pussycat exists is however no surprise to those of us following Juliana's Twitter account towards the end of 2016. There were frequent tweets - almost entirely focused on the Republican candidate - in the weeks leading up to the election.
Juliana's disbelief, anger and fear of what seemed to be happening and what ultimately unfolded was clear. (For me and I suspect many other Brits the familiarity to emotions experienced in our EU referendum six months earlier was unavoidable. A different set of circumstances but a shared feeling of unprecedented horror.)
A month prior to the election and in the aftermath of what she described as the Trump "pussy grab" tapes, Juliana wrote for Talkhouse where she articulated her fears and how events brought back memories of men abusing positions of power and privilege.
It seemed inevitable that Juliana needed more than Twitter to act as an outlet for her feelings and in January 2017 she posted photos from a recording studio on Instagram:
“All of these songs just started pouring out of me. And I felt an urgency to record them, to get them down, and get them out there."
As recounted to Cleveland Scene:
"Some of the music I had lying around, the bits and pieces of chord progressions. When I had these lyrical ideas and when I started to feel like I needed to express these feelings, I went looking for the music and put the songs together very quickly."
Pussycat isn't framed as an anti-Trump record but the fallout of the 2016 US Presidential election is all over this album. There are lyrics and song titles unambiguous in reference to the 45th President.
I Wanna Be Your Disease opens the LP with calls for accountability, a desire to see that the actions of poisonous evil are answerable:
I want to be your disease
a catalyst for reckoning
with all of the harm you have done to the earth
and all of your vile and hateful words
The song hits a high key as Juliana reaches the lines:
I want you to listen to me
I want to make you sorry
This sets the tone for Pussycat. Juliana has plenty to say. In every sense her voice will be heard.
In recent years, Juliana has explored more use of keyboards to harmonize and add melody. This continues on the album, no better than on You're Breaking My Heart which furthers the profound sadness at how society appears to have changed for the worse:
i slept so well
down my quiet street
knowing we all cared about the same things
The anger in Pussycat kicks in further with the dirty blues sound of When You're A Star which recounts the aforementioned "pussy grab" tapes and ties it in with the Bill Cosby case.
when you’re a star they let you
do what you want
whatever the fuck you want to do
when you’re a star they let you
do what you want
buy the silence of your many tragic victims
do what you want
you’re protected by your sycophants and henchmen
Good Enough For Me has Juliana in self-deprecating mood although it seems a bit abstract and maybe at odds with overall direct themes of Pussycat. Cracker of a tune, mind.
It's obvious who Short-fingered Man is aimed at:
short-fingered man
can’t get her off
short-fingered man
best give it up
You can dance to it too:
