Tom Dunne: Fight for your right to disco party with Say She She 

Say She She are a reminder of how powerful disco can still be 

Say She She are immersed in the sound of early disco. Picture: Alyssa Boni

I feel the expectation of a Taylor Swift column hanging over me like a lead blanket. I feel The Life of a Showgirl beckoning to me, its huge gravitational pull drawing me in, prompting me to form Travis Kelce shaped questions, spirited Charlie XCX defences, and easter egg revelations I am having none of it. I am hoping instead that one of my children will ask what her track Wood is all about. I’m going to tell them it’s reference to the main material used in DIY pursuits.

“DIY comes for everyone eventually,” I will say. “You want to change the world, but you settle for putting up shelves.” “Normally DIY comes after you marry, Taylor’s just gone a bit early, that’s all,” I will add.

“Does this mean she is getting married?” they’ll ask.

“Yes it does,” I will tell them emphatically, “and already planning the kids room.” I prefer this to the actual unpalatable, juvenile Wood truth. I mean honestly, at 35.

So instead, this week I will point you in the direction of Say She She, a three-piece female Brooklyn band whose new album, Cut & Rewind, is simply great. In fact, given the times we live in, I’d go as far as to say it is an album for our times.

Our times, in case you’ve missed it, are the most politically uncertain since the worst days of the cold war. For instance, in the US, Bad Bunny, who is Puerto Rican, is scheduled to perform at the Superbowl 2026. On hearing this, a Trump advisor advised that ICE agents would be present. Imagine the scenes.

And, this week, country singer Zach Bryan, a man well-loved in these parts, was cautioned by Tricia McGlaughlin, from the Department of Homeland Security to “stick to Pink Skies.” This after Zach shared an anti-ICE lyric is a song called Bad News. Has government ever appeared more threatening and sinister?

The answer to that is that yes they have, and that is where Say She She come in. They have forged a disco album, but not a Saturday Night Fever one. No. Cut and Rewind is an album that harks back to disco’s early days. When it was all inclusive, confrontational, and very, very political.

You could lose sight of that if your only exposure to disco was Bee Gees-related. If you associate it only with Bianca Jagger in Studio 54, white suits, even whiter teeth and Olivia Newton John, then how can I break this? You are missing so much.

Disco, as embraced here by Say She She, had its origins in late 1960s New York when they grew up as safe place for the marginalised to meet. Attendees were predominantly multi-racial, gay and working class. They were often invite-only and would frequently take place in lofts.

The dance floor was the safe place where the DJ would craft an emotional, night-long arc. In a world where the LGBTQ community had no protection it was a godsend. Soon, discos opened in Mafia-controlled bars. Police were paid off to turn a blind eye. The Mafia motivation was purely profit-based, but they were good bars.

One such bar, The Stonewall Inn was at 53 Christopher Street. On June 28, 1969, at 1.20am the police raided. One of the offences they were determined to prosecute related to the wearing of “gender appropriate clothes”.

It might seem incredible at this remove, but it was a rule at the time that you must wear “three articles corresponding to your assigned gender”. The patrons pushed back. Coins, bottles and bricks were thrown. Riots broke out and continued for three consecutive nights.

Before the riots, the disco was an intimate spiritual community, a place to express freedom, self-invention and gather with your chosen family. After the riots discos were still all of that but were also now loud, visible, unapologetic and political. A year later, on the anniversary of the riot, the first Gay Pride Parade was held.

This is the disco world in which Say She She pitch this, their third album. They are three professional singers, two of whom met when they heard each other practising in their apartment building.

That might sound a bit like they are the Only Murders in the Building house band but it’s great to hear disco with an edge to it. It’s been a while. But fighting for your right to party has never seemed more timely.