I first fell in love with Bif Naked in the mid-’90s. I was publishing a zine called Ant, The Only Cool Magazine That Bites, and her publicist sent me a promo of her self-titled debut. My zine was about 90% hair metal, which I was throwing my support to after being upset by the whole grunge takeover, but her publicist granted me an interview anyway. I still remember talking about our generation, X, and her telling me that a lot of her friends were “living in a state of suspended adolescence” and that there were going to be “a lot of casualties.” She seemed to overflow with insight like this, which became more and more evident each time she released an album of music, spoken word or poetry. If I had to describe her with one word, it would be passionate. Because I’ve never seen her do anything in half-measures. Whether she’s being an activist, humanitarian or musician, she always gives everything 100%. It was with this gusto and her famous positive mental attitude that she even kicked cancer’s ass.
Although Bif released a couple of singles in 2018 and an acoustic album in 2013, her last studio album of all-new material was 2009’s The Promise. Suffice to say, it’s been a while. And so I am thrilled to report that her infectious new single, “Jim,” is just the first from a forthcoming album entitled, not surprisingly, CHAMPION.
Bursting with layers and layers of guitars atop sonorous drum beats, “Jim” tunnels its way deep into your head and runs circles around whatever song you had stuck in there before it. An anthem for anyone who’s ever suffered the pain of learning that someone had betrayed them in the worst way possible, it finds Bif’s voice every bit as charismatic as ever as its ultra-catchy melody takes hold of you and you find yourself wishing it was a lyric video so you could sing along already. If the rest of this album is even half this good, we’re in for an instant classic. It will surely be a Champion indeed.
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