Stay Here Where It’s Warm is the long-awaited debut album from Toronto duo Babygirl. Meticulously built and carefully shaped by Kiki Frances and Cameron Bright, it’s a warm, gently devastating record about fleeting intimacy, emotional refuge, and learning to let go.
Babygirl have a penchant for vivid imagery in their singular music, a wistful take on bittersweet pop rock that heedlessly transports into the soundtrack of a teen drama from the early aughts. Having already shared singles "Take Me Back", "After You", and "You Don't Need A Reason To Call", today they share “All Is Well”, a song about "finding a small place of contentment with someone when the rest of your life feels out of control," says Babygirl.
"All Is Well" reflects the "calming, almost sedative effect of the right company." Carried by fuzzy guitar riffs and clever lyricism, a bittersweet lustre by which to 'hydroplane on tears,' the wistful pop song offers listeners a soft landing that feels like coming home. "When you’re together, your problems feel trivial and you’re able to just enjoy existing."
What if a song could feel like a moment you never want to end—even though you know it must? Like being snuggled up in bed in the morning with the knowledge you’re going to have to start your day any moment now. The duality between the place of comfort and the loss of it is at the emotional core of Stay Here Where It’s Warm, the long-awaited debut album from Toronto band Babygirl.
Kiki and Cameron met in a jazz program and bonded over a shared love of Katy Perry, The Beach Boys, and the art of a good pop song. They were “kindred pop spirits,” as though fated to be a songwriting team. A pair of pop music philosophers, the two connected over dissecting the math of Max Martin and Swedish-penned Top 40 hits. “It was nice to find someone else there that was super passionate about pop music and took it seriously in the same way,” they say. It didn’t take long for collaboration to spark.
BUY / STREAM “YOU DON’T NEED A REASON TO CALL” HERE
The plan, at first, was to write for other artists, Tin Pan Alley-style. They stockpiled demos and imagined their songs in the hands of pop stars. “And then we were sitting there with the pile of demos like, now what? How do we get [REDACTED]’s phone number?” They never did get in the studio with [REDACTED]—they haven’t yet, anyhow. In the process, they stumbled onto something singular: a distinct sound and voice that didn’t feel like it belonged to anyone else. So they started a band, named it Babygirl, and began putting their own songs out into the world.
That was almost ten years ago now; since Babygirl’s origin they’ve been releasing singles and EPs, like 2018’s Lovers Fevers, with the serenely melancholic indie hit “I Wish I Never Met You.” It set the stage for what they’ve been gradually, meticulously working on ever since: ‘I wish I knew forever would end so soon’, Frances sang—but she doesn’t sound sad, she sounds composed, cerebral, like she is contemplating a logic problem from a sunkissed future vantage point.
PAST PRAISE FOR BABYGIRL
