Slayyyter returns with long-awaited ‘WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA’

There is a specific moment in the 2025 film “Marty Supreme” when a relatively normal genre flick does a line of coke and goes off the wall. The scene culminates in a bathtub falling through a floor and onto an unsuspecting man; a situation which hikes up the anxiety levels for the rest of the movie. On hyperpop artist Slayyyter’s WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, track five is that bathtub-through-ceiling moment. 

“CRANK” is lyrically messy, sonically hedonistic and one of the best pop songs of the decade thus far. The track synthesizes industrial techno and Y2K bubblegum in under three minutes, while simultaneously sounding like nothing heard before. Catherine Grace Garner, who goes by Slayyyter, has chatted in interviews about being an avid movie-watcher. This is shown in “CRANK,” a song that feels especially cinematic. It feels like the sonic equivalent of the shot of adrenaline scene in “Pulp Fiction.” It’s scarily intense but ingeniously funny at the same time.

Landing in the music industry after growing up in Missouri, Slayyyter presents herself, intentionally or not, as a party animal in blonde extensions. Her early SoundCloud music paralleled these tendencies. Her early songs included “BFF” with Ayesha Erotica and a “Gimme More” remix still not cleared by Britney Spears’ estate. Both of which earned Slayyyter a significant cult following.

Arriving after a period when she seriously considered quitting music for mental health reasons, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA is rougher, darker and more emotionally raw. In the new album, audiences get to hear the projected bravado of a rebellious Catholic schoolgirl smuggling an iPod touch into theology class, along with Slayyyter’s own worst moments. 

On “GAS STATION,” Slayyyter opens up about her dysfunctional childhood home. She focuses on how the poor relationship she had with her father reflects in her current choice of men. In the music video, Slayyyter takes off a muddy pair of boots and puts on uncomfortable looking hot-pink high heels. This serves as a visual metaphor for Slayyyter’s personal sacrifices to feed male validation. 

On the album’s closer, “BRITTANY MURPHY,” she contemplates how people may remember her more fondly if she died in her prime. Reminiscing on the tragically early death of American actress Brittany Murphy, this song will certainly go down as one of the most fun-sounding but lyrically depressing tracks of all time.

The album’s one main flaw is its sequencing. WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA had almost a year-long single run, and rather than scattering these knockout songs throughout the project, the front half is almost too loaded with hits. The narrative cohesion may have benefitted from a more vulnerable track to evenly balance the quality of song craft. However, the record’s backend is nothing to scoff at, either.

“YES GODDD” is Slayyyter’s raucous take on metal music, flexing the singer’s bloodcurdling scream. In a pop landscape crowded with Sabrina Carpenters and Taylor Swifts, it is admittedly refreshing to hear a female artist make decidedly sexual music that’s more body-horror than romantic-comedy. “OLD FLING$” continues what Charli XCX’s 2024 pop Bible “BRAT” began: reviving mid-aughts electronic dance music, a la Justice and especially Crystal Castles. “I’M ACTUALLY KINDA FAMOUS” is pure ARTPOP-era Lady Gaga. The song could have bordered on gauche in lesser hands, but Slayyyter has the right amount of humor and snarl to pull it off. 

Perhaps the album’s thesis statement is “$T. LOSER,” a self-aware snarl of a song about perception, hatred and the struggle to escape a tough girl persona. “I think about money, drugs, chains on my chest,” Slayyyter raps. “I think I get a low bill, but I’m the f*cking main event.” And as the music crescendos and her voice ascends into quasioperatic heights, you cannot help but believe her.