In light of Your New Boyfriend officially becoming a Gold record (!!!) I want to take this opportunity to talk about it’s neglected middle sibling Internet Ruined Me.
I feel like the reason that it is the least played and least liked of all of the e-girl trilogy is that it hits too close to home and people don’t really like that.
While I’m in Love with an E-girl and Your New Boyfriend are both cut and dry satirical comedic songs (emphasis on comedy), Internet Ruined Me is far more sincere.
Each of the three songs examine and deconstruct the incel mindset, however Internet Ruined Me actually takes the incel seriously and is also empathetic and understanding as to how someone might come to think and behave that way. It’s a reminder of how dangerous and influential the internet can be and how we’ve become both reliant and borderline addicted/obsessed with it. It is a warning about how destructive the internet bubbles we create can be to one’s own sense of self.
Where I’m in Love with an E-girl and Your New Boyfriend couch the incel’s destructive tendencies in light jokes and boppy hooks, Internet Ruined Me holds up a mirror and asks the listener how different the incel is from themselves.