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Rilo Kiley — “Glendora” from The Initial Friend EP

I should find someone better for me/but Mom says we’re born this way

The Initial Friend EP (or Rilo Kiley as it was originally called in its first release) is a solid collection of early Rilo Kiley. The languid “85” is lovely and as I mentioned in the intro, “The Frug” is a simple but haunting track. However, the standout here is “Glendora.” It’s jaunty and fun and then suddenly Jenny asks, “And would you fuck me? Because I’d fuck me. Am I your wetnap?” and if she didn’t already have you, she has you now, for life.

This song hits so close to home, it hit close when I first heard it at 15 but it didn’t really become a part of my bones until I was 18. Away from home for the first time in my life, I was a college freshman in love with the first person who would look at me. We dated for a week, said I love you in the shower on day three, and promptly broke up a week later when he just felt like, you know, we were becoming really different people and it would be better to just be friends or something.

I cried for days and wore my friends’ patience super thin. I got my hair cut, didn’t go to any of my classes, and tried to think of ways to be in the same social settings as him. When he started dating someone else a week after we broke up, I cried some more but I was cool about it around him. When he asked if we could still sometimes hook up, I said of course, knowing full well that this was the dumbest of the dumb decisions.