Joyce Tratnyek has found a wonderfully sharp way to describe toxic love. On her latest offering ‘Final Girl’, the NYC-based singer, songwriter and producer takes the language of slasher cinema and folds it into a song about emotional imbalance, obsession and the exhausting act of giving everything to someone who would never do the same in return.
The track begins in softer synth-ballad territory before swelling into a much more forceful shoegaze-rock release, giving the arrangement the same sense of escalation as the story itself. What starts intimate gradually becomes overwhelming, and that shift gives ‘Final Girl’ a real impact.
There’s real hurt underneath the writing, but the lyrics retain a humorous edge that keeps the song from collapsing under its own emotional weight. The image of romantic survival becomes exaggerated enough to feel cinematic while still remaining painfully recognisable.
Following her previous cuts ‘Lavender’ and ‘Bloody Mary’, ‘Final Girl’ also feels like another step towards a clearer artistic identity.
Her music works best when storytelling, emotional honesty and a slightly warped sense of humour all collide, and this track brings those qualities together with an assured confidence. With additional production and mixing support from Richard Carey and mastering by Gabi Grella, ‘Final Girl’ feels polished without losing its basement-born personality.
It’s theatrical, noisy, catchy and just slightly unhinged; defining Joyce Tratnyek as one of the more eccentric names on the rise right now.