Author’s Note: I’m fine! And if my family’s reading this, do not worry! I never had to use a particular set of skills <3
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“Be yourself is about the worst advice you can give to some people.” – J.B. Priestley
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It’s May 2021 and I’m sitting across from an awkward man, the kind of gangly white man who looks like he’s been pressed together in a trash compactor. His head and eyes move quick and anxious, like an owl that’s scared of what’s behind him. And I wonder not if, but how he’d murder me if I kept seeing him. I’m guessing strangulation. He takes out his gum and squishes it firmly to his dinner plate. Strangulation for sure.
This is my third attempt at being a sugar baby and after seeing the man put that cold hard gum back in his mouth after his spaghetti, I know it’s my last. Turns out, you really can’t pay me enough to eat with people who need to buy attention in the first place. The effort it takes to neutralize my frown of disgust! Too much!
A few years later I’m online with other Geese fans and they’re talking about Geordie Greep. This name has come up enough times now that I wonder if he’s like 100 Gecs, who I still hadn’t listened to because something in my gut told me it was for raves only. [2026 update: I’ve listened and still cannot tell.] Geese, Geordie Greep, 100 Gecs? What’s with all the Gs? Puzzling.
“Holy, Holy” is 6:03 minutes and rules immediately. Intense staccato triplets? You better believe I’m INTO IT! And the music video is in a bowling alley just like Geese’s I See Myself. But then Geordie Greep pops into frame and holy shit! It’s Gum Boy! No I’m kidding, but that would be crazy.
The lyrics start and I sense a familiar type of character. Not another one of these losers, c’mon not this again. Every ball is labelled “10” and he bowls a strike repeatedly, dancing in front of the pins just long enough for an editor to rig the game in post. Classic fake strike.
What I love most about this song is its true danceability. You can rock tf out to this bad boy no question. What I love second most is that in 6 minutes, Greep establishes an arrogant, confident character who reveals he’s only an insecure person with money. With feeling! With lore. And for clarification, Greep and the narrator of “Holy, Holy” are not the same person.
The barmaids know my name
I’ve had them all before
You are new – I’ll have you too
It’s time to give in
Ick. The façade fades in the second half of the song. Marked by an asterisk* on the official video‘s lyrics, the song is divided in half both lyrically and musically at 3:20. In the first half, he declares himself the god of the room. In the second, he’d be stickin his gum to a dinner plate if you gave him one.
Why hide your true nature at all? There are people in this world who are all talk and all trick. The people who run my country, for example. So in the first half he’s bold:
You must have heard about me Everyone knows my name
Everyone knows I’m holy
Pair that with the final verses and you’ve got yourself an actor.
And I want you to make me look taller,
Could you kneel down the whole time?
How much would that cost?
Which half happened first? If we go chronologically by First Half = Arrogant, Second Half = Big Reveal, it feels like a guy who crumbled the second he got the woman’s attention.
However, it’s fun to wonder if the second half was the two of them arranging a deal before they walked into the bar. Then it becomes First Half = Fantasy Plays Out, Second Half = Flashback to the Planning Stage. With the final verse, that idea holds more weight:
Thank you so much / We’ll meet the same time next week / And the next week after that too / And the next week after that / And the next month and the
It cuts off mid-sentence. He leaves satisfied. Despite nearly impossible requests to look unsure of herself, unimpressed, and then blush, his lady of the night did her job so well that he wants to see her again.
Both interpretations of form are valid in my book, but I do enjoy the second idea more. It feels like a movie, like a heist. Either way, the second half is a little embarrassing. Like watching someone fumble their keys.
Released in August 2024, “Holy, Holy” is no longer news in the music industry. But the rivalry between fantasy and reality is ongoing. With “the male loneliness epidemic” becoming a meme, it’s worth a shot to take the reins of this joke and steer it back to its origins.
The speaker represents a specific type of person who yearns for affection with no social skills to acquire it. What do you do when you have no game? Work on your game? No, you fantasize about being important. And for many people, status is a valid replacement for charisma.
It’s valuable to highlight the rolodex of personas people wear on a daily basis. So much is done to replace true human connection. Roleplay videos on YouTube, AI chatbots, phone addiction. Like the black rectangle at the end of the music video, your closed eyes can import any dream you want. I can do backflips in my mind.
But showing up as an actor just writes your life into an empty story with empty connections. Even when the mask is as sheer as a dragonfly wing, taking it off can be almost impossible. That’s one reason it’s easy to empathize with the narrator even if you’ve never paid anyone to make you look taller. He’s so clearly not who he wants to be.
So no, the whole world does not think the narrator is some kind of sex god. The barmaids probably don’t either. He’s more like an employee of his imagination, working without benefits. Story of my life.
Most of us have put another person on a pedestal, yearning for any crumb of affection they could possibly bestow upon our sad, thirsty little hearts. And in our limerent fantasies we imagine ourselves worthy of these people, or worthy of the illusion we fabricated. But in moments like “Holy, Holy” when you’re sick with wanting, sometimes all you can truly do is dance.
Sincerely,
Eva
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Check out The New Sound on Bandcamp.
