I’m Tapwaterlucy, a self-made singer-songwriter, producing most of my songs herself or with close friends. When I was a teenager, I developed a strange and wonderful connection to horror movies. Not just the blood-soaked slashers or the campy B-movies with awful acting, but the dark, twisted, visceral kind that had me glued to the screen for reasons I couldn’t quite explain. I felt a connection to the genre in a way that I didn’t with any other.
But there was one trope that I couldn’t escape, no matter how deep I dove into the depths of horror: “The Final Girl”. So, who is “The Final Girl” you ask? Now, if you’re into horror at all, you’ll know exactly who I’m talking about. “The Final Girl” is the last woman standing after a bloodbath of death and destruction, the one who must face the monster, the killer, the chaos head-on.
But for me, “The Final Girl” has always represented more than just a trope. She’s a symbol. She’s resilience, grit, and that unrelenting drive to survive, even when everything around her is falling apart.
Last year, I was fortunate enough to receive a grant from Help Musicians to help facilitate the creation of this EP, which gave me a full year to immerse myself in the creation process. That time frame wasn’t just a deadline – it was a spark, lighting a fire I didn’t even know I needed. I knew this debut project had to be something powerful, something unapologetically me.
The concept of calling the EP The Final Girl didn’t actually hit me until I was deep into the process of shooting the music videos. I had been experimenting with the aesthetic of horror films across decades, from the campy 1950s creature features such as ‘Attack of the 50ft Woman’, to unsettling, animated horror from the 80s such as Perfect Blue, or even hyper-modern body horror of today like Titane, I wanted to pay homage to the greats.
However, as I was filming these videos, something shifted in me. I wasn’t just stepping into a world of horror; I was stepping into a world of pure determination. The pain, the discomfort, the struggle—it all started to feel oddly familiar. The drive to push through it all, to make it no matter what, was exactly what I felt as an artist.
There was one video shoot where I wore these intense all-white contact lenses that left my eyes burning all day.
Then, I had this vicious metal spine piece digging into my side, literally drawing blood. But we were on a tight schedule, so we had to keep pushing through. In that moment I thought about Lady Gaga’s iconic “Marry The Night” video, when the crew wanted to shut the set down because it started raining, and Gaga told them, “We got free rain, roll the cameras.” That was the mentality I had, too. No matter what, this art has to happen.
That’s when the “tortured artist” concept really clicked for me. Like “The Final Girl”, I had this drive that wouldn’t let up, even if it hurt. That feeling, that refusal to stop, was the heart of what I wanted to convey with this EP.
It wasn’t until the very end of the recording process that I fully embraced this idea, though. The song “The Final Girl” wasn’t even on the EP at first. Originally, The Final Girl EP was just four tracks – songs about love, friendship, sexuality – but nothing that tied it all together in a way that felt complete.
Then, right when I thought I was done, right after my producer Morten Bergholt and I had finished our 4-day writing camp and he flew back to Denmark, I called him and told him we needed one more track. One more song to encapsulate everything I was trying to say. And thus, “The Final Girl” was born.
It felt essential. Because really, in every artist, there’s a Final Girl. True creatives don’t just create for the sake of it – we need to create. There’s a physical, emotional, almost spiritual necessity to make art that non-creatives will never fully grasp. To us, feeding our creative egos is as vital as air, water, or food. And when you combine that with a ferocious hunger to succeed, well, it can kind of become an obsession. A dangerous obsession.
But that’s the price you pay in this game. You’ll sacrifice anything. You’ll bleed for it. You’ll push through the pain, the setbacks, the failures. Just like “The Final Girl”, you’ll keep fighting because stopping isn’t an option.
“The Final Girl” is the debut single and title track from my upcoming EP. With 4 more singles on the way… are you still watching?
Listen to “The Final Girl” below and stream it everywhere else here.
