The Boys are back.

In 2018, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers teamed up to form Boygenius, an indie supergroup that released the best song of 2018 (and, in my estimation, the best song of the 2010s). It seemed like a one-off collaboration at the time, but five years later, they reformed for The Record. Critical admiration, Nirvana homages, and Grammys followed. Then, following a sold-out tour, the Boys went on hiatus to focus on their solo careers.

Let’s catch up with Baker, Dacus, and Bridgers to see what they’re up to now in a post-Boygenius era.

Julien Baker

Julien Baker and Torres (real name: Mackenzie Scott) had a wild idea during COVID-era lockdown: what if they made a country album together? Unlike most projects that originated during quarantine, however, they saw it through: Send A Prayer My Way, which includes twangy singles “Sugar In The Tank” and “Tuesday,” comes out on April 18 via Matador Records.

Interestingly, despite The Record dropping in 2023, Send A Prayer My Way came first; a decision was made to “temporarily shelve” the album until Baker was finished with her Boygenius duties, otherwise the promotional cycle with Torres (including a spot on The Tonight Show) would have been rushed.

“It sucked because we were both chomping at the bit to get it out,” Baker told The Independent. “It would’ve felt really bad to start something and have an end date already in the future and to truncate it [because] it had to be done by the time I started doing Boygenius stuff. I’m glad we waited.”

You can catch Julien Baker & Torres on tour this spring.

Lucy Dacus

Lucy Dacus released her first three albums on indie stalwart Matador. But she signed with a major label (Geffen) for Forever Is A Feeling, which features contributions from both Baker and Bridgers, as well as Hozier, Bartees Strange, and Blake Mills.

“I think with this whole record, I wrote songs as things were happening,” Dacus told Dazed Digital about Forever Is A Feeling, which is due out March 28. “A lot of the time, it’s taken years before I can write about something, but this is the first time I felt like I needed to write about my current emotions, for my own well-being, to express to myself what’s going on.”

The early singles have been a terrific showcase for Dacus’ smoky voice and candid songwriting. She’s also a terrific person: Dacus gave away $10,000 in $500 increments to trans people looking to pay for gender-affirming surgeries.

Phoebe Bridgers

Let’s (I know the) end with the unknown: is Phoebe Bridgers releasing an album this year? There’s been no official announcement or even any unofficial rumors, but come on, it’s been five (!) years since Punisher.

After Boygenius announced their hiatus in early 2024, Bridgers has stayed mostly off the radar, other than performing with Sloppy Jane in Jane Schoenbrun’s must-see I Saw The TV Glow, producing collaborator Christian Lee Hutson’s album Paradise Pop. 10, and a Disneyland date with comedian and actor Bo Burnham.

Bridgers may have caught the acting bug herself, as she was recently spotted on the set of the Robert Pattinson-starring movie Primetime. The A24 film “follows a journalist who takes on an underworld of crime and ends up changing television forever,” according to Variety, and is said to be inspired by To Catch A Predator. Maybe Bridgers can get Pattinson to sing in a freaky lil’ voice on her next album, whenever it eventually comes out. Just a thought.

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