“One of the Girls” by The Weeknd, JENNIE & Lily-Rose Depp
Lily-Rose Depp, the daughter of Hollywood A lister Johnny Depp, is known primarily as an actress, though she has sparsely ventured into the musical arena in the past. More specifically, as co-star of the 2016 film “Yoga Hosers”, she participated in a handful of covers alongside fellow co-star Harley Quinn Smith.
Since then Depp has landed her biggest acting role to date, as the main character of the HBO series The Idol. This is a project that centers on music industry matters and that is being more or less helmed by one of the most popular musicians of the day, that being The Weeknd.
Relatedly, each individual episode comes with its own EP consisting of original tracks, most of which are likewise held down by The Weeknd, though Lily-Rose has thus far dropped one track of her own, “World Class Sinner / I’m a Freak”, in conjunction with the first episode of the series.
This second song she participated on, “One of the Girls”, is part of “The Idol Episode 4 (Music from the HBO Original Series)”, which came out on 23 June 2023. This EP is a product of The Weeknd’s XO Records in conjunction with Republic Records and the Universal Music Group.
And besides for The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp, the track is co-headlined by Jennie of Blackpink fame. To note, The Weeknd co-stars on The Idol beside Depp, and Jennie also has a recurring role on the series. But that said, this is the first time the three of them have teamed up in song.
THE COMPOSERS OF “ONE OF THE GIRLS”
Musicians who get both production and writing credit for this song are The Weeknd and Mike Dean, the latter of whom is also slated to make a cameo appearance on The Idol. On the production side they were assisted by Sage Skolfield, and the other writers of this song are Sam Levinson, Ramsey and Lily-Rose Depp.
THE LYRICS
The full title of this track, as rendered in the chorus, reads “I just want to be one of your girls tonight”. As elucidated in the lines that follow, what that means is that the vocalist (Lily-Rose Depp) is not looking for a serious relationship from the addressee. Rather, she is apparently content with the two of them having an interaction akin to a one-night stand.
But overall, there is a lot more to the lyrics of this piece than just seemingly biggin’ up casual sex. The verses themselves are quite graphic, whereas Lily for instance proceeds to depict herself as someone who is into sadomasochistic and degrading sex acts.
And that sadomasochistic aspect is buttressed by The Weeknd, who presents himself as a guy who specializes in pushing the likes of Depp to the limit, though not in the name of sexual pleasure but rather exercising dominion over his conquests.
“We don’t gotta be in lovе, no
I don’t gotta be the one, no
I just wanna bе one of your girls tonight
We don’t gotta be in love, no
I don’t gotta be the one, no
I just wanna be one of your girls tonight, oh”
As put forth by some analysts, all of this is meant to tie into the storyline of The Idol. And what is theoretically being alluded to, more clearly via Jennie’s contributions, is that within the series, Depp portrays a character who has grown accustomed to being physically abused in the name of prompting her to excel professionally.
And interesting to note is that in response to the backlash The Idol has experienced for being sexually graphic, The Weeknd’s response was “there’s nothing sexy about (the series)”. With that in mind, the main female vocalist (Lily-Rose) also doesn’t come off as if she’s looking for a one-night stand or being degraded by a lover because it brings her physical gratification per se. Instead, it may be a case where she derives some other, let’s say psychological benefit from subjecting herself to such a modus operandi.
