You could absolutely break my heart
They had all first met at a release party for the Marauders’ debut album. They’d all come from different backgrounds and places, but they had all clicked immediately.
“Hi, I’m Lily,” she said, holding her hand out to the girl directly in front of her.
“Hi, I’m Mary, nice to meet you,” the girl replied. They had become fast friends.
Later that night the pair met two other girls, who they loved.
“I’m Marlene.”
“And I’m Dorcas.”
“I’m Lily and this is Mary, it’s great to meet you!”
That’s how I know that we’re in love
They’d all shared their numbers and social media, and they soon became really close. The media first photographed them together on October 4, 2016. They had since begun to pick up on their friendship and promptly named the four “the Valkyries.” They were seen together almost daily, and within a year they had put out an EP together. It threw fans into a frenzy, as they disappeared as a group after that first release.
I don’t need the symbol of a scar
They had all since put out solo albums, and the media hadn’t seen them together since the release. Suddenly, they were reposting the others’ posts, and they were mentioning each other in their interviews.
So put down the knife, we’re not swappin’ blood
On July 19, 2022 they were seen at a restaurant together for the first time in years. The Valkyries were back together once again.
Isn’t it enough that we stripped down to our skin?
What the fans didn’t know is that the four had remained in contact with one another the entire six years, and they had all been living together for two of them. Mary and Lily had started dating, and so had Marlene and Dorcas, but they had been careful about it, and the four had had countless conversations regarding whether the fans should know, and whether or not the behavior should change between them.
Cold and porcelain like bathers in a painting
Boundaries became blurred between the four, and none of them minded. They laid themselves bare for the others to see, because if they couldn’t handle the rawest versions of each other, then what were they all even doing?
And I told you of your boast lives, every man you’ve ever been
This caused some riffs between those more emotionally closed off, but eventually they all came to their senses and their relationships with each other were better than ever.
It wasn’t flattering, but you listened like it mattered
Marlene had been the one to propose an actual album. That conversation had been a long and hard one.
“The fans don’t need to know everything about us Marlene!” Lily yelled, after their discussion had turned rather heated. “They don’t need to know our deepest darkest feelings anymore! They like us, we don’t need to ruin that.”
“It was just a suggestion! No need to be such a bitch about it,” Dorcas defended her girlfriend.
“Don’t call her a bitch,” Mary piped in.
“Lily, it’s not like we don't get to choose what we put on the album. If something someone writes or comes up with is too personal then just say that and we’ll work it out,” Marlene explained. “Us releasing more music won’t make them like us any less, it’ll probably be the opposite.”
I feel crazy in ways I never say
Lily had first come up with the song after a night out before anyone started dating anyone. Marlene had been annoyed about her situation with Dorcas and took it out on Lily. The words aimed at her broke her heart, but she stayed anyway.
Will you still love me if it turns out I’m insane?
Lily had had some mental health problems at one point during their friendship. It had gotten so bad that she had to go to a program to help get her back on track. Her friends supported her throughout everything, even the times she would get so frustrated with herself that she’d take it out on the others. They still loved her, even if from a safe distance for all of them at the time.
I know what you’ll say, but it helps to hear it anyway
When she was diagnosed with depersonalization disorder, they helped her throughout the beginning of her diagnosis. They drove her to therapy when she was too far away from the real world to do so herself, they set reminders for when she had to take her medication, things like that. Without them, she truly didn’t know if she would have made it through the first dark days.
Some October in the future, I’ll run out of trash TV
She first sang the song to Dorcas, who had truly been her rock for most of it, on New Year’s Day and they both cried. It was in that moment that she knew she made the right decision agreeing to an album, and that she knew that this song had to be on it.
And I’ll be feeling lonely, so I’ll walk to karaoke
Mary was the next one to hear the song. This time it wasn’t on purpose, as Lily had been working out the exact notes for the lyrics when she was showering, and Mary had walked in on it, but she’d absolutely loved it. Lily had been a bit embarrassed about it at first, but as soon as she had realized that Mary actually liked it, she’d started to work with her to fully get it formed.
Sing the song you wrote about me, never once checking the words
Lily was most nervous about Marlene hearing it. She was known to be a bit more critical of songs, especially the first time hearing it, so she put off showing it to her until she absolutely had to.
“So, 11 songs is the final length?” Marlene asked, double checking with everyone. “No one else has any they want to throw out there?”
“Actually,” Lily started.
I hope that no one sings along, I hope that I’m not a regular
An argument ensued.
“I thought you didn’t want everyone to know everything?” Marlene asked, venom lacing her tone.
“I don’t!” Lily replied, her voice sharp.
“This sure as hell sounds like everything, Lily.”
“Marlene, calm the fuck down. It’s a good fucking song, you’re just too out of touch with your emotions to acknowledge that,” Mary said.
Damn, that makes me sad, it doesn’t have to be like that
It took two weeks to get Marlene on board with just recording it, let alone allowing it to be on the album.
If you rewrite your life, may I still play a part?
After days of recording, and then arguments, and then more recording, they finally did it. We’re in Love was finally recorded.
In the next one, will you find me?
The Record by the Valkyries was released on October 4, 2023, and it charted instantly. They announced a tour two weeks after the release, and they sold out all 28 shows.
“I’ll be the boy with the pink carnation,” Lily sang, looking out into the crowd to find that everyone in the pit was holding up paper pink carnations. Her eyes started to water and she, probably against her better judgment, went down the stairs of the stage and walked along the aisle in front of them, trying to grab as many as she could while she smiled and sang with the fans. “Pinned to my lapel, who looks like hell and asks for help.”
She looked into the crowd, her mind wandering from her, causing her to forget to sing the lyrics. But, to her and the others’ surprise, the fans kept singing, getting louder when they realized she had stopped. “And if you do, I’ll know it's you.” She eventually grounded herself and returned to the stage, in hopes of preventing that from happening again.
“I can’t imagine you without that same smile in your eyes,” she sang, her voice growing stronger. She then stood next to Dorcas, Mary, and Marlene, and wrapped her arms around them. “There is somethin’ about you that I will always recognize, and if you don’t remember I will try to remind you, of the hummingbirds.” At some point during those lines, the four had started swaying along with the crowd, and Dorcas had a few tears rolling down her face.
All four joined in for the last verse:
“You know the ones
And the baby scorpion
And the winter lunar halo
And the walk we took in the Redwoods”
Lily was alone in the outro, with her singing, “I could go on and on and on and I will
go on and on and on until it all comes back.” Her voice cracked on the last note as the crowd went wild and the other three girls came to where Lily was standing to tackle her with hugs.
This had been the moment the four had been waiting for. They just played their first sold out show at TD Garden, and the audience knew every word of the set so far.
“How are we tonight?” Mary asked the crowd, making them all cheer and scream.
“Glad to hear it,” Dorcas laughed in response. “Anyway, we wanted to take this moment to talk to you guys about some personal things, if that’s alright with you guys?” Once again, screaming.
“Lily will do most of the talking, but we just wanted to make sure you guys know how much we all have appreciated your support these last years, and we hope that you will continue to support us after this,” Marlene explained. If one would look into the crowd, they would find them all looking concerned and worried, as this sounded like an announcement that they wouldn’t like. Lily seemed to pick this up.
“Before I get started, this isn’t us announcing that we’re breaking up,” she laughed, pointing to some people in the first row. “I see your faces, it's nothing like that, don’t worry. As you all know, that last song was called ‘We’re in Love’. I first wrote that after the dark days right after I got the diagnosis of depersonalization disorder. Now, while that may sound like a scary diagnosis, and it is, don’t get me wrong, it was made a lot easier by these guys up here. This song was originally a platonic declaration of love to these three. And while it still is, we’ve decided to share some personal details about ourselves with you tonight. Our first arena tour, and sold out right now, so we thought it would fit.”
“In the last few years there have been some changes in our lives,” Marlene continued. “Some of you guys have picked it up or guessed, and some of you guys have no clue.”
“And we love that,” Dorcas added. “We love that so many of you see so many different versions of our lives, all holding some truth to them.”
“And we hope this doesn’t change anything, because we truly love you all dearly,” Mary said. “And I hope we can continue with this shared respect.”
“With all of that being said, we thought it would be best to address the rumors,” Lily said, taking a deep breath. “There have been some whispers about relationships between the four of us, and we’d like to officially tell you that Mary and I have been dating for a year and a half.” The crowd went wild. They were screaming, some seemed to be crying, and some were just speechless.
“And as an addition to that, Marlene and I are engaged, and we’ve been together for four years.”
“We hope that you all can continue to respect our privacy while also being supportive of us,” Marlene said, grinning. “And with that, we’d like to announce our new album, “Queer Joy ", is coming out on March 31, 2024!”
If some people claimed to go deaf after that night, no one would be surprised.