V.E. Deflates The Male Gaze & Incels On “Five Four Girls”
The rise of incel culture and casual chauvinism has been hard to stomach. Just seeing the phrase “your body, my choice” slip into headlines so freely this past week feels like a surreal nightmare—one we seem to be crafting ourselves. Yet, this is real. It’s shaping public discourse, influencing elections, and steering culture in a regressive direction. Course correction feels daunting, almost impossible at times, but small steps can still spark change: honest, clear-eyed appraisals that expose these toxic mantras and lay bare their absurdity. For that purpose, we turn to Richmond’s art-rock band V.E. with “Four Five Girls”–a song and video that help reveal the insecurities underpinning incel culture while empowering the targeted women to reclaim their own perspective against the male gaze.
The opening and title track of V.E.’s 2023 EP, “Four Five Girls” wastes no time in setting the scene, opening with a narrator facing an unfriendly crowd that quickly shifts from jeers to mocking laughter. “What’s with these girls hovering around me?” he asks, followed by, “All of these girls laughing at something I can’t see.” This opening line immediately pulls listeners into a tense atmosphere, highlighting the narrator’s discomfort and confusion that so many young boys relate to. The social alienation is palpable and the insecurity is undeniable, each driving the direct song forward alongside the patient rhythm.
Yet confusion quickly shifts to disregard, with the narrator assuming that a few shallow changes would make his problems disappear: “They’ll never warm up to me \ Not this time around \ Maybe next time I’ll be so handsome they’ll be fighting about…” These lines unfold like a 4Chan post—blunt, self-absorbed, and devoid of self-awareness. Even the sharpest line, “Tell all these girls, ‘stop acting like children,’” lands with an emotionless, entitled drawl, punctuated by the dismissive retort, “or I’ll cover my ears and act like one too.”
To this narrator, women’s affection isn’t just desirable–it’s his measure of their maturity, as though their disinterest signals a flaw in them. It’s inconceivable to him that his own obliviousness makes him the true child in the room. V.E. skillfully uses this biting perspective to reveal the insecurity and entitlement festering beneath the surface, illustrating how such warped views rely on a stubborn refusal to see beyond one’s own biases. By presenting this mindset so plainly, V.E. lays bare the movement’s shaky foundation, showing how fragile it is and how its core is less about strength than about self-loathing. The whole construct of toxic masculinity is threatened as it’s revealed to be a precarious structure, built not on power but on deep, unacknowledged insecurity.
It’s a wallop of a social critique, but one the band deftly avoids overshooting, thanks to a keen musical restraint that creates a surprisingly gentle, almost mollifying mood. This contrast between the biting lyrical content and the calm, subdued instrumentation intensifies the message, allowing it to land with impact while still maintaining an air of introspection and subtlety. V.E. proves that sometimes the most powerful critiques are those that don’t shout, but rather, quietly compel listeners to reflect.
In the video, filmed by the band with visual effects by Echo Striebig, the perspective shifts to the women–the “girls that really really need” the narrator. With unwavering, unflinching gazes, they endure the disregard for their autonomy and identity, as the song’s lyrics unfold around them. With the tension building on both sides, each woman is handed a balloon, a featureless face they can project the narrator onto, imagining his inhumane rhetoric spilling out recklessly. But don’t worry—they won’t have to listen for long. Just like the fragile, shapeless balloon, the narrator’s ideology is due for a pop. And when it comes, it’s swift, cathartic, and joyously freeing.
We may not be there yet in fully ridding ourselves of this malformed ideology, but if we continue presenting their own words in different settings, perhaps we can begin the process of deflation. It might not be as satisfying as watching the entire movement implode before our eyes, but it will be a gratifying start nonetheless. By confronting these views head-on and exposing their fragility, we can chip away at their foundation, sparking change one deflation at a time.
V.E.’s latest record Four Five Girls is available now on all streaming platforms. To learn more about V.E. and stay up-to-date on their upcoming shows and releases, be sure to follow them on social media.
