What were you doing when you were 16 years old? Most teenagers are in high school, studying for tests and balancing their social lives so they can go to college– Lydia Night, California native, breaks the norm. Night is the lead singer of The Regrettes, a grungy, alt-pop girl gang. The band dropped their debut album Feel Your Feelings Fool! in January.

Before The Regrettes, Lydia represented one half of another pop rock duo: Pretty Little Demons, whose unique sound landed them gigs at Lollapalooza and SXSW. Night has “…been playing in bands for 10 years”, starting lessons at the School of Rock. The “school”, which groups talented students into “bands”, fostered her love for music. “Both of my parents are super musical without even playing anything,” Night explains with an unmistakeable sense of love and pride, “They’re just huge music freaks, so there’s always been good music blasting in my house.”

Enter The Regrettes in 2015, when Night formed the band with three friends that she met through School of Rock: Genessa, Sage, and Maxx. The group secured a record deal under Warner Music with their song “A Living Human Girl”. Since then, Night and the rest of The Regrettes have been working hard.

There couldn’t be a better time for Feel Your Feelings Fool!: in an age when girls feel pressured to conform to societal norms, The Regrettes are fighting for females everywhere. Night “[wants] people to be more in touch with their emotions and not feel weird about feeling them… just empowered, really,” she said.

Through their irresistible, clever headbangers, The Regrettes are teaching young women to embrace their individuality. They ironically acknowledge stereotypes and judgments that females face: the song “Ladylike / WHATTA BITCH” contrasts the soft, fragile, femininity of the past with Lydia’s carefree persona with lyrics such as:

“Be light, be small, wear a dress below your knees, not less /
Be insecure, be a wife, cater to a man for the rest of your life,”

and

“I heard that girl Lydia is a total f*cking bitch /
I heard that she’s a feminist so she must not shave her pits.”

Night embraces the label of “feminist” through her music and encourages others to do the same.

Listen to The Regrettes’ new album Feel Your Feelings Fool! and rock out on Apple Music, Spotify, Soundcloud and more.