Single reviewsThe Other Side Reviews

Darrian Gerard – Villain (2024)

Igniting her passion for music at a young age, Canadian artist Darrian Gerard began learning to play the guitar at 7 years old, and “seamlessly embraced bass, piano, drums and vocals…” With her natural talent for music, the passionate flame flared into a unique style finding harmony in diverse sounds; although, there is a strong pop-rock flavour simmering in her melodies. We came across Gerard in 2021 as she blasted onto the scene with her debut single ‘I Don’t Need Anyone’, and since then her intoxicating tones have turned heads internationally. The latest addition to her discography is the single ‘Villain’.

Inspired by life in its totality, Darrian Gerard captures the core of raw emotions connecting with audiences on an intimate level. She began her professional journey exploring the reality of “being your only support”, and in ‘Villain’ she once again delves into the complexity of “being yourself”. Gerard explains:

“’Villian’ is about letting go of trying to please people and finally playing your role as the ‘bad guy’ or as some might see it. The idea for the song came to me one day when I realised, I was finally doing things the way I wanted to do them, saying no to others and saying yes to myself. I kind of felt like the villain instead of the hero that I thought people wanted me to be. I wasn’t going to make it anywhere in music if I kept trying to fit myself into other people’s expectations, being the ‘good person’ was no longer an option…”

Following her well-received EP, Basement Stadium, Gerard tips her hat at the late-90s/early-2000s pop-rock sound. Winding blasts of Blink 182 about Avril Lavigne’s ferocity and slips of Alanis Morrissette’s rock audacity, ‘Villian’ is a hard-hitting punch of nostalgia. Interestingly, while the combination of pounding drums, searing guitars and bold bass drag vintage pop-rock to 2024, it is Darrian Gerard’s vocals that capture old-school and contemporary pop-rock with vibrancy.


In addition to the single, Darrian Gerard released an official lyric video for ‘Villain’. You can view the video below or on her YouTube channel.



Find out more about Darrian Gerard on her Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Spotify.

This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator


Listen to more powerful pop-rock tracks on The Other Side Reviews Pop Rock playlist: