OK Guys, Which Celesbian Is The New St Vincent Song About?

Late Thursday night, celestial creature and Vapid Fluff regular St Vincent released her latest song, downtrodden ballad “New York.” You’ve heard it; your ex sent it to you that night, followed by a ? emoji.

“New York isn’t New York without you, love / So far in a few blocks to be so low / And if I call you from First Avenue / Where you’re the only motherfucker in this city who can handle me,” Clark sings mournfully, and the entire world stops. I’m not even a huge St Vincent fan and this song completely ruined me.

So who’s the song about? Clark has famously dated musician/actress Carrie Brownstein, model/actress Cara Delevingne and actress/sulkmonster Kristen Stewart (she was also rumored to be involved with musician Lissy Trullie in or around 2009). Is the song about heartbreaker Carrie Brownstein? Both performers are notoriously private, and although tabloids love to speculate about the breakup being less than amicable, little is known about their relationship or its demise.

(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/VF13/WireImage)

Of these, it seems that her most intense relationship was with Delevingne, with whom Clark was rumored to be engaged; the two seem to have remained good friends. As far as we know, all clues seem to point in this direction.

“New love wasn’t true love, back to you, love / So much for a home run with some blue bloods / If I last-strawed you on Eighth Avenue / Where you’re the only motherfucker in the city who can stand me.” Story checks out!

Remember when Cara and Annie broke up and then Annie was almost immediately spotted walking down Astor Place with Kristen Stewart in matchy-matchy outfits? And then five minutes later that relationship was over too, and Cara and Annie were seen out together in LA? I do.

“New York isn’t New York without you, love / Too few of our old crew left on Astor / So if I trade our ‘hood for some Hollywood / Where you’re the only motherfucker in the city who would / Only motherfucker in the city who would / Only motherfucker in the city who’d forgive me.”

Cara, if you’re out there, don’t fuck it up.

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Stef

Stef Schwartz is a founding member and the self-appointed Vapid Fluff Editor at Autostraddle.com. She currently resides in New York City, where she spends her days writing songs nobody will ever hear and her nights telling much more successful musicians what to do. Follow her on twitter and/or instagram.

Stef has written 464 articles for us.

24 Comments

  1. Ok but like what about Rooney Mara? I think there’s a plausible timeline where they met before they were really famous (citing the Interview Magazine article where St. Vincent interviewed Rooney) and maybe had a weird, unresolved fling but stayed close friends and this song is a last-ditch love letter as she watches Rooney date Joaquin Phoenix while getting progressively gayer haircuts. “New love wasn’t true love, back to you, love / So much for a home run with some blue bloods” The Maras are a New York dynasty – I mean, c’mon, what more proof do you need?

  2. But it seems like a break up song and she wrote it while still with Cara D, there’s a video of her performing it in June 2016. Also sounds like its about someone she knew / has known for a long time…I am not normally this stalkerish but I LOVE St Vincent! And gay stuff.

    Rooney Mara theory above is my new fav

  3. All the dollars on it being Carrie. Hero? Come on! Maybe that’s just me, but, yeah.

  4. Annie first played this song in June 2016 while dressed as a toilet (yes, really, there’s video of it). Now, Annie and Cara didn’t break up until September 2016 (three months after this song’s debut), so it’s probably not about her.

    That being said, if it’s NOT about Cara there’s a lot of unanswered questions, mainly:

    1) Why did Annie write/perform this very sad breakup song while still dating Cara?

    2) Did Annie’s inability to get over whoever this song is about contribute to the aforementioned breakup with Cara? (Probably)

    I also like the Rooney Mara theory above, but will also entertain the idea that it’s about some non-celesbian.

  5. I don’t know who’s doing whom but it does my old gay heart good to actually see famous women be open about their relationships with other women.

    • +1

      I’m old enough to remember when Rita Mae Brown writing Sudden Death about Martina was a BIG DEAL. Otherwise, those “is she or isn’t she” conversations were so frustrating, and yet our only way to gather up those public affirmation crumbs.

      I mean, sure, it still goes on, but I’m so glad there’s so much less of that garbage.

  6. Well, this fits perfectly after “Call Your Girlfriend” in my Sad Ass Songs To Dance To playlist.

    Thank you, Stef.

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