By Kamryn Anthis | Staff Writer
Star Shaped Girl band members McKenna Franco, Emmeline Scott, Jocelyn Glenna and Sheridan Vasquez describe each other and the bond that they’ve formed using three words: spontaneity, sunshine and sisters.
Fulshear senior Franco founded Star Shaped Girl, a first-of-its-kind girl band in the Waco alternative scene, last spring.
“I’ve seen a lot of girls in the scene who enjoy the music, but are not represented by the music,” Franco said.
Long Lake, Minnesota, sophomore Glenna echoed this concept and said she felt called to make a change in the Waco scene.
“I’ve always tried to find a female to look up to, especially with my guitar playing, and there aren’t really any big names … that’s always been kind of frustrating to me,” Glenna said. “So I decided about two years ago that I was going to be that inspiration for myself.”
These girls spent their fair share of time enjoying local music before deciding to join in. Nashville, Tennessee, Baylor alumna Scott said it was intimidating, as a woman, to see mainly male bands.
“There’s always like a lot of girls in the crowd, and they’ll be dancing and stuff like that, but it is always very male-centric,” Scott said.
With bands like My Chemical Romance, Big Thief, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles as inspiration, this band brings a unique sound to Waco.
“It’s very free alternative rock,” Franco said. “I mean, we get a little bit of authentic punk elements in there, a little bit of yelling every now and then; it’s very robust. It’s very real.”
This band is exercising their creative freedom to perform what feels most natural to them. By refusing to put themselves in a box, they explore many different avenues utilizing their combined talents.
“We do what we want, we play what we want and we try not to stick to one genre,” Glenna said.
Glenna said their creative process revolves around organic authenticity
“We’re letting it come to us organically; we don’t want to force anything,” Glenna said. “We want it to be as authentic as possible, and when we present something that is our own, we want it to be a really genuine reflection of who we are as people and as a band.”
The band said they want people to feel “liberated and free” when listening to their music. Franco said this mindset allowed for the naming of the band.
“I just feel like I’m a very star-shaped girl,” Franco said.
Tickets are available to claim for Star Shaped Girl’s free show this Saturday, where they will be performing alongside Baylor student band Bear With Us and Denton band Dead Week.
