GET TUFF

When the going got rough, Get Tuff was born out of necessity. RB Roe, a touring musician for the better half of a decade, traded their guitar for GarageBand demos while on the road. Inspired by the glitchy witchcraft of POPPY and Hayley Williams’ multimedia therapy, Get Tuff is a respite, an outlet, and a backbone drenched in pop production. According to Roe themselves, Get Tuff exists as “a reminder that there is strength in vulnerability and there is an innate humor in the depths of despair that, as a person with mental illness, can come from things that others may deem small and benign.”

Get Tuff’s debut LP, in sickness and in hell, showcases Get Tuff’s main objective: hiding explosive power beneath shaky ground. RB’s songs slink under a veil of smoky detachment before expanding into raucous explorations of the uncomfortable, the unbelievable, and the aftermath. “rag doll” unpacks sexual abuse while the backdrop glitches and meanders, and “misery” buries a towering hook beneath a body burrowed in bedsheets, where themes of suicidal ideation play against an active hook. Elsewhere, Roe’s production choices undulate between somersaulting club moments (“a piss poor excuse”), simmering odes to internal struggle (“worms4brainz”), and lovesick duets (“over it”). Get Tuff’s affected pop structures allow for the lyrical themes to illuminate a different path forward: one constructed by loving deeply and being known. Things just might get tough in the meantime. RB’s staying tough.