Princess Nokia’s GIRLS is a riot. A ferocious and hilarious blood-red love letter to womanhood in all its messy glory. GIRLS is by the girls, for the girls, and Princess Nokia explores every possible facet of femininity from every angle. Ditzy and vengeful, the record opens with a defiant rant before plunging into the darkly luxurious Blue Velvet. With thick, menacing low-end piano notes ringing out like bells, the NY snarl in Nokia’s voice is unbothered and unstoppable.

Throughout the record she riffs on mythological and pop-cultural archetypes making them all dance to her beat. GIRLS is brimming with blood, guts and glitter, equal parts camp and carnage. Matcha Cherry is gloriously silly, listing every possible kind of woman with wide-eyed devotion after a lovesick slow-jam. Drop Dead Gorgeous is the record’s thesis statement, with its title borrowed from the cult movie about a beauty pageant murderer and a low-slung moombahton thud. Gossip Girl ups the tempo, Pink Bronco is a dreamy Lana Del Rey homage, and closer ArtStar outright steals Justin Timberlake’s best hooks just to prove she can. Every track bursts with character, with quick, witty flows that are venomously confident, and sleek, shadowy, bass-heavy production keeping everything in balance. Princess Nokia can sound dangerous and seductive in the same breath, and GIRLS is a shapeshifting blend of hip-hop, horror, and folklore, both a celebration and a send-up of femininity itself. It’s a mixtape of moods stitched together by confidence and conviction, and you can either clutch your pearls or join the party. GIRLS is what it sounds like when women have had enough, and they’re done softening the edges for anyone’s comfort, with the same grotesque bravado and shock factor as early-2000s Eminem, but with a purpose. It’s fearless, funny, politically charged, and a total blast to dance to. Silly, threatening, beautiful and disgusting all at once. That’s girlhood.