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Difficult times can make or break people. As a society, we've been going through doomsday fatigue, whether since the pandemic started, the Trump administration took office, or before that even. Some people have been struggling more than others for a long time. On top of it all, the rent is too damn high, our rights are falling away, the world is on fire (literally and figuratively), and it feels like everything is entirely out of control.The tiniest thing could be that last straw that separates any of us from our sanity. For BEGINNERS, the alt pop project of L.A.-based Samantha Barbera, one way to deal with those feelings of despair made itself abundantly clear: say fuck it. "If this ship's going down, we might as well enjoy our time here," she says.

The extra indignant sting on top of everything inspired almost a superhero origin story, whether she's the hero or an agent of chaos to be seen. In addition to all that, Barbera went through a breakup during what felt like the implosion of the world we'd known, while watching her rights as a queer woman shrink. Instead of imploding, she got into the studio.

And that's how BEGINNERS' If the World Is Ending EP was conceived: as an explosion. Barbera is always writing songs, and putting this record together came after a steady stream of collaborations in studios all over the West Coast. The lead single, "I Hate That I Love Brooklyn," is a raucous anthem full of spikey punk rock guitar that represents the spikey feeling of a toxic relationship—with a person, with the news, with a whole damn city or country. Barbera calls it a metaphor for "manic addiction to someone I loved.”The same way a city like Brooklyn makes you feel alive but can also completely drain you."

The song started with a hat. No, literally. Producer/Artist and frequent collaborator Matias Mora (K. Flay, Broods, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn,) had a blinged-out hat with the word Brooklyn on it and convinced everyone that it had to be where the song was set.“Our only goal in the studio (and maybe life) is to get as weird as humanly possible and experiment with sounds and concepts,” Barbera says.

And speaking of Harley Quinn: her smart-assed revenge vibe emanates from "Goodbye, Good Luck." The emo-influenced track was written in the spirit of '90s groups like theGet Up Kids and Saves the Day, with clever wordplay, a big chorus, and a big kiss-off."We were trying to think of what cool vintage shirt you would be pissed if your ex threw away," Barbera says. "That's how the Pixies ended up in the song." Working with co-producer and co-writer Robert DeLong usually yields something with an electronic bend, Barbera notes, and exploring their punk rock and emo influences for this song was a breath of fresh air. “It was cathartic to lean into my angsty broken heartedness on this song,” Barbera says.

So when you're as down as you've ever been and it feels like the stakes are so high that everything is above your pay grade—that feeling is what "If the World Is Ending" is about. Because when it's all out of your control and falling apart no matter what you do, what else is there to do but dance? The song's genesis came during a day at friend and co-writer Nick Ruth's (FINNEAS, Kelly Clarkson) house. "We were talking about everything that's going on, with LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights, and all of it. And were like,' Holy shit, what is happening?'" Rather than embrace despair, they decided to write a survival anthem. And it is an anthem—this big alt pop rock song makes it impossible not to dance to the classic rock and roll beat. For Barbera, it was a chance to create something that felt like listening to Arcade Fire meets Elvis. Sometimes the subject is sad, but the song doesn't have to be. "I don't think I hit a moment of actual positivity," she says. "It's more like throwing your hands in the air and admitting we can only do what we can do."

There's a wistfulness to "The Person I Thought I Knew," a piano ballad about realizing that what you thought you knew about a person was nothing more than a fantasy. Written with Jesse Clasen of the indie duo Foreign Air, the song layers ethereal harmonies together in a cloud of brokenness. "We were talking about the different phases of relationships, like when you're so entangled in one another and it feels like the sky's the limit," she says. "And how it feels to go from that to a moment when the relationship doesn't feel good anymore."

For Barbera, collaboration is the key to success. She co-produced and co-wrote all of the songs, but those intimate moments of sharing her personal stories with her collaborators helped tap into a sense of connection that brings her art to life. Over eight months, theIf the World Was EndingEP was written and recorded in various home studios. "I'm cutting vocals and singing words that I've literally just written and talked about in that same moment," she says. "So the emotions are still really high on the recordings."

BEGINNERS is a DIY project with punk roots spanning multiple scenes and genres. It has always been fully independent with no record label or advances, but with those all-important master rights and creative control. The project has seen massive success in the world of music syncs. Disney used the song "Start a Riot" in the trailer for the 2021animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon. It promoted outreach and interest from new fans worldwide who searched the song on the internet and commented en masse. "How special to be part of something so iconic and historic, especially a movie with such great representation of Asian people and women."

Apple also tapped BEGINNERS for three ad campaigns, and New Balance had the band perform in a commercial alongside a slew of famous women Olympic athletes. The music has also been played in ads from Target, Samsung, and Adobe, plus in numerous shows including The Walking Dead, The L Word, and the Netflix series Money Heist and Elite. In Netflix’s Sex/Life, the band got a name drop and a full, two-minute-long dance scene—an unheard-of placement.