Underestimate the Girl centers around the ‘lost years’ of the multi-talented Kate Nash. From becoming a skyrocketing pop star, dealing with a crumbling career, and now to her resilient emancipation. Meet Kate Nash, a rock n roll survivor.
The noughties and MySpace are such a strange time in pop culture; not many artists personify this time. However, artists such as Adele, Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, and Kate Nash do. The second coming of Britpop exploded online and in 2007.
The inescapability of Foundations was real and who could blame it? The winning combination of clever lyrics along with a catchy piano-driven melody taken from Nash’s debut album, Made of Bricks, sold over 500,000 copies in the U.K. Not to mention, Nash also won the BRIT Award for Best Female Artist in February 2008.
Pop music tends to look like a glitter-coated party with fluorescent neon, but underneath the shiny facade is the sleazy underbelly of the music industry that also uses and discards. Underestimate the Girl is a refreshingly candid documentary that goes behind the curtain, but before we go forward, we must go backward; that’s how the Amy Goldstein directorial takes place.
Adults in suits have made millions off of marketing youth culture while benefitting from pushing the narrative of damaging self-image down the throats of the same impressionable youth culture.
Young girls get dismissed with labels like ‘hysterical,’ ‘crazy,’ and ‘obsessive.’ In reality, young women are passionate and caring. Without the frenzy of “obsessive fangirls,” pop culture wouldn’t exist.
Identifying fangirls have the power to create career longevity. Look at the careers of beloved artists like Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Britney Spears. Fangirls did that and so much more; they also helped mold male artists’ careers like Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, One Direction, *NSYNC, and even The Beatles.
Kate Nash has embraced the youth culture as well as girl power at an early age. While winning the 2008 BRIT Awards, Kate Nash’s iconic speech stated: “to all the women as well in this category, who are like making their music on their terms and helping to eradicate the misconception that female is a genre because it isn’t.”
Nash’s wit and snark served her well; even when singing about heartbreak, her imagination and inflexible effervescence shined through. Woefully this unique blend made for being a British tabloid target when she was new on the scene, with digs at her appearance that can mentally screw up any suggestible woman.
Following the success of Made of Bricks, Nash’s sophomore album My Best Friend Is You underperformed. Naturally, Nash took this as a new creative challenge thus her 2012 punk inspired summer banger Under-Estimate the Girl; a single that completely changed her life.
Although Under-Estimate the Girl offered a vibrant new direction, the single is also the catalyst of being dropped by her record label; inadvertently, this is the beginning of Nash’s emancipation.
The documentary captures Nash’s struggle with self-releasing her third and fourth albums, Girl Talk and Yesterday Was Forever (with Kickstarter’s help). Performing gigs where she could, not to mention a publishing deal that went awry. Then there’s the lawsuit against her former manager, who stole money to finance his wedding.
As Nash explains her story, it’s her sincerity and retrospection that draws viewers intently on her narrative. We see her go through her lowest moments but still somehow push through. Kate Nash’s ability to shatter expectations from men in suits is honestly inspiring; she’s a rock n roll survivor. After all, the most punk thing anyone can do is to go against “the man.” Watch the trailer below.
