Jane Remover is a trans artist infamous for pushing genre boundaries and has been named the face of digicore by Pitchfork and FADER. Ever since they released the EP Teen Week in 2021 at only 17 years old, major publications have been keeping a close eye on them and that only ramped up more with their debut album, Frailty, blowing everyone away and really forcing everyone to pay attention to them. Woodside gardens 16 december 2012 is a song on Teen Week that was released during a difficult point in their life (according to Jane when talking to Pitchfork) and perfectly encapsulated the emotions and social othering Jane felt during this time.
Immediately, the song kicks off with a melody layered by a sample of some people laughing to each other before some hard 808s come in and the melody sounds like something right out of an old Pokémon game. Sounds like these are used to create a nostalgic feeling which is a cornerstone of digicore production, another digicore artist and friend of Jane’s, d0llywood1 (when talking with iD) described digicore as “digital kids who met over the internet” making music that “sounds like s*** we found on the internet.” When the vocals come in, they are very crushed and autotuned which is another digicore trope. The robotic nature of the vocal juxtaposes Jane’s very soft voice underneath all of it, which comes from not wanting to disturb others in their family home. The lyrical content also juxtaposes the very happy-sound melody playing behind them. With talks about bad friends, self-loathing and anxious thoughts. Jane has opened many times about their less-than-idea school life and anxiety. With the former, they’ve talked about how reliant they are on the internet, telling Pitchfork that they’re “so terminally online that it hurts.” In the report Jane also mentions how bullying in their politically conservative town’s middle school led to them “acting more masculine” and tried to fit in but “still felt estranged.” This fits in directly with lyrics, most notably “shut up f*****, bury the hatchet, they won’t like you unless you’re acting.”
At 1:44, the song erupts into a fast breakbeat accented by a soft piano, whirling synths and soft vocal harmonies, not forgetting the infamous Bodies by Drowning Pool scream sample. This is deemed as one of Jane’s most compelling additions to the digicore sound as (according to a separate Pitchfork report) they are used to “express the all-consuming anguish of adolescence, heartbreak and dysphoria” that helps others “understand their queerness.”
In short, woodside gardens 16 december 2012 is a song that really defines the queerness of digicore, presenting its very intoxicating internet aesthetics whilst still presenting a very real, queering identity.
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