“Let love die”: the female trio Shego tells the doubts of generation Z with punk rawness

“I existed long before you loved me”, “I hope your fucking mother puts up with you”, “some loves have to end, love is not to blame”, “I can be a slut and tear your hair out to make myself a coat”, “I wanted to fuck you and now I want to leave”, “no fear, no shame, no money in the bank”... These are some of the phrases heard on the new album (their second), entitled I won’t do it again, by the female trio Shego. There are 13 songs that soothe the listener’s sorrow with rock music and a punk attitude.

This Madrid group is made up of the voices and guitars of Raquel Carro (Alcalá de Henares, 27 years old) and Maite Gallardo (Madrid, 26), and the voice and bass of Charlotte Augusteijn (Chile, 27). Carro and Augusteijn have studied Fine Arts and Gallardo started Dramatic Art and did music production. They have known each other for a while, but the pandemic made them try their luck as a group and now they are facing a tour throughout Spain, a journey that has just begun and which they have called Purísima gira . On the cover of the album they pose dressed as nuns, whom they describe as “the best”, and they have described one of their latest songs, Curso adelantado de perra , as a religious experience. In case anyone has any doubts, they assure that they do not want to show any specific religious message.

The date is at their rehearsal space in El Observatorio, in Carabanchel, a space in the south of Madrid that they share with bands like Toldos Verdes or Bechamel, and where they are preparing the show for the twenty dates they have already marked on the calendar. La Riviera (Madrid) or the FIB (Benicàssim) are some of the stops of a concert in which there will be four people on stage and in which they want to show a sound very faithful to the album. According to what they say, they recorded it a year ago in the studios of La Mina, in Seville, and it has hardly had any post-production, because what they were looking for is a real and rock sound. They light a cigarette and under the sun of Madrid they talk about music and love, something inevitable in their compositions.

If Amaia Romero's songs are "magical realism" (as she defines them), Shego's are pure realism. Their lyrics tell their lives. They sing "let love die," but they say they love love, because even though "there are loves that must end, love is not to blame." They believe that one can be intense and bad at the same time, and it is precisely in these beliefs that several generations, especially theirs (the Z), are found, without shame for self-knowledge and stoicism. They are aware but have stopped flagellating themselves and they themselves sing it: "There are so many things that I could avoid, but I can't avoid them."

In some relationships, avoiding is not easy, but repeating mistakes is. They know this, and that is why Gallardo compares love and heartbreak with the spiral learning process that a teacher once taught her, to talk about the inevitable and how “we have come into the world to solve things”: “You are always going around in circles and in the end it is the same mistakes, the same situations that are repeated, but each time you learn more.” One of her songs defines well what it means to be in a relationship that you know is not good for you. It is called Que muera el amor (Let Love Die). For them, it is the perfect example that toxic love must die. “There are many moments in which love as we have learned it is not beneficial, it is not beautiful, and you want that learning to end once and for all, but you don’t know how,” they explain.

From the pain and vertigo of heartbreak they move on to rage and motivation, even talking about violence with song titles like Te mataré , as direct as they are ironic. “Obviously if you think about killing a person you are not really going to kill them, but you do feel like it. There is a lot of talk about learning through positive feelings, but you can also learn a lot through negative feelings,” says Carro. “It is part of a duel, it is like you go up and down and sometimes it is easier to get angry than to be sad,” says Charlotte. “Violence is natural, but it is demonized because it is very badly used. You think, I would kill you, I am angry. With that I can make a song or go out for a run and use all that rage to create. Violence is very creative,” concludes Gallardo.

They feel that they have judgment and shame, and that speaking so clearly is a personal and generational issue. “There are things that are more normalized and people talk more,” Augusteijn sums up. Carro, for her part, says that it also has a lot to do with the people they hang out with, “the bubble.” And of course they mention the many girl bands they have around them who are just as honest or more honest: Aiko, Repion or Las Petunias. “This happens to me and I’ll tell you about it. Mecano was very innovative for its time, but super old-fashioned with the lyrics,” Maite says. They mention a reference with which they feel more comfortable: Bad Gyal. “Things were happening with men that were already very common and she came along and did it like a girl,” the three conclude.

They keep saying that they are very lucky to be dedicated to music and to make a living from what they love. But, above all, they are aware that theirs is an exception within the precariousness in which their generation lives. “If this profession can give me something, then let it give me the minimum, which is being able to have a home. It should be something collective, everyone should live in decent conditions. This society is a bit disgusting and that is because of how it is set up. In this place [the rehearsal rooms where the interview is taking place] there are people who are paying to rehearse and they don’t earn half a euro making music,” explains Maite.

Listening to and talking to Shego is a party: “We are not as party animals as it seems, but we are very funny. To be a fun and interesting person, you don’t have to get high until 10 in the morning, it can be a cool afternoon or night without having to be a wreck,” they say. Even in this they are forceful, an attitude that they are clear about, it comes from the rock environment in which they have moved and in which they are clear that as women “if you don’t have a certain swagger, you are a softie and what you do is worthless.” Luckily they are not the first of many, there are already many and there are still many more to come.