Forgot About Me is Rachel Gagliardi’s full-length debut under the name Pouty. The album was written and recorded throughout 2022 in Los Angeles and Philadelphia with the Superweaks’ Evan Bernard and Chris Baglivo.Forgot About Me’s nine tracks speak to a series of realizations about desire, self-sabotage, denial, acceptance, and aging, all set atop fuzzy power pop.

Pouty began in 2013 when Gagliardi and Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) collaborated on a solo-song-a-day-project. At the time, Gagliardi was one-half of Slutever, whose bratty punk songs continue to captivate new audiences on social media. She later joined Upset, which featured former members of Hole and Vivian Girls. Pouty’s debut EP,Take Me to Honey Island, came out in 2016 and over the following years, Gagliardi shared a handful of EPs and singles including 2021’s “Bambina,” which reflects on the changes that accompany motherhood.

The title of Forgot About Me is a line borrowed from the defiant chorus of album opener “Salty”: “I bet you almost forgot about me.” “It’s an admission to the self that you are struggling with an identity crisis, a nod to past versions of yourself, and the growing pains that come with getting older,” Gagliardi explains. “It also addresses the fear of being left out, of outgrowing places and people, of feeling discarded.” “Salty” underlines Gagliardi’s hunger to step back into her power. “What if you stopped standing in your own way?,” she wonders on “The Big Stage.”Forgot About Me is the answer. -Quinn Moreland