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Central Standard

Rachel Mallin And The Wild Type Hopes God Saves The White Girls

Andrea Tudhope
/
KCUR 89.3
Singer Rachel Mallin of Rachel Mallin and The Wild Type pokes fun with her song 'White Girls,' in what she calls 'indie, surf pop' style reminiscent of The Beach Boys and Buddy Holly.

Story of a Song is a monthly segment on KCUR's Central Standard in which local musicians tell the story behind a song they have written or are performing.

The band: Rachel Mallin and The Wild Type

The song: "White Girls"

The story: Last year, Kansas City singer Rachel Mallin was recovering from a failed relationship, one that she felt was hijacked by a certain kind of girl. Processing the pain, she started churning out lyrics. Around the same time, she got a job at Forever 21, working eight hour shifts, five days a week.

With the holidays approaching, she spent a lot of time stocking supplies in the back. But, she dealt with her fair share of customers.

"There is a breaking point you reach, just as a human being, when you have to deal with a lot of the same kind of people who come from a very privileged background," she says. "And I dealt with a lot of white girls."

And thus the lyric 'God save the white girls' was born.

Mallin and her band started playing around with doo-wop riffs and shiny guitar tones, and in the end, with the help of playful 'woos' and a child's bell set, produced what they hope is a whimsical, satirical song.

Mallin herself is, indeed, a "Caucasian female."

"There are a lot of jokes about white girls, in the way of Starbucks and Uggs," she says. "And I'm gonna be honest -- I love pumpkin spice lattes. I'm never gonna deny that."

But, she says, she didn't grow up with a lot of privilege. That, and her personal experiences fuel her song-writing.

"It comes from stuff that's painful, but if I just wrote the painful stuff straight from its core, I would sound like a really angsty girl," Mallin says. "That's not who I am. I'm just a sarcastic beyotch."

Andrea Tudhope is a freelance reporter and producer for KCUR 89.3. You can reach her on Twitter @adtudhope.

Andrea Tudhope is an award-winning multimedia journalist based in Kansas City, Missouri. She is currently coordinating producer for America Amplified, a national public media community engagement initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.