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Picture the scene. It’s the end of April 2022, we’re sitting in London's Bethnal Green and the sky is that classic dull grey colour which makes a Mutt Matt Black Sabbath look cheerful.    

Suddenly - like a superhero making a dramatic entrance - a flash of pink transcends around the store. Milly Toomey, better known as GIRLI, and her trademark pink mullet have entered the building. Dressed in biker trousers and a leather jacket, it’s fair to say Milly not only understood the brief… She smashed it.   

For those who don’t know, Milly is a singer/songwriter from London who has been making music since the age of 17. Now 25, Milly has a full length studio album to her name titled ‘odd one out’, as well as a shit load of singles and a reputation for stunning the pop punk scene.

As hinted at by our description of her entrance into the Mutt store, much like Milly’s music her style also demands attention. “The inspiration has changed a lot over the years. When I first started making music as Girli I was very much influenced by Japanese style. I was also a big fan of PC Music at that time, so a lot of my style reflected that.” 

It’s easy to forget just how long Milly has been making music for. Throw a global pandemic in the mix as well and it’s to be expected she’s changed a bit since 2015. We can’t all still be sat in our parents’ basement listening to Blink-182… “I think as my music and just me as a person has changed, the style has gone through a lot of changes. I kind of describe my releases as like eras, because I feel like the style changes with it too.” The one thing, however, that Milly insists will always be the same is the pink mullet *wipes sweat from forehead*.

But as someone who has been surrounded by the music industry for such a large part of her life, we couldn’t help but ask for the inside scoop. 

If Milly could change one thing about it, what would it be and why? “I think I would change its nepotism, I think that’s the thing that bothers me the most. You can work your arse off, but then someone knows someone whose dad is someone’s best friend, and then they get the opportunities”. Milly is keen to point out how grateful she is for the opportunities she’s had, but she does make a good point. “There’s a lot of people who know they have a lot of power and can really help to elevate a lot of people’s careers, but through personal bias they choose not to.”

Anyway, let’s discuss bikes. Milly has spent the morning with us sat on one of our Black Sabbath bikes and looking very natural whilst doing so. Surely she’s got some biker history? Well, yes and no. “I always had this dream of getting some kind of licence so I could get out and have some kind of freedom. So I got my CBT when I was 17.” But, for one reason or another, she never got her hands on the real thing. More recently both her dad and girlfriend have got bikes and it’s renewed her interest. “I’m so jealous of it, and I think it’s really inspiring me to get my own bike finally, I think it might be finally time to renew my CBT.”

That sense of freedom and independence is clearly something Milly craves. She goes on to tell us about a Ford Transit she converted into a campervan and has taken all around the UK to go surfing and skating, stopping off wherever she can to sleep and cook in the van along the way: “It’s awesome and has always been a big dream of mine. The van has given me the freedom to just go wherever I want.”     

Whilst it might seem obvious to say about someone who has been professionally releasing music since the age of 17, Milly is clearly not one to sit around and wait for things to happen. She does what she wants, and does it in her own unique way. Only Milly knows what is next in store for GIRLI, but one thing’s for sure, it won’t be boring.