Scene Queen: The Reign of METALICIOUS

Hannah Collins, known to the world as SCENE QUEEN, has never been one to play by the rules. Under the moniker, she has built a career in the self-coined genre ‘bimbocore’ that weaponises hyper-femininity, bubblegum pop, and bone-rattling metal breakdowns, crafting it into music that is gloriously confrontational. No part of her personality, look, or sound has ever been anything less than brash, brazen and utterly authentic, and now with the release of her new EP METALICIOUS, she’s back with her heaviest, most ambitious statement yet. Ahead of the release, we sat down with Collins to discuss the long road back to the Bimbocore volumes, embracing the changes within her corner of the metal scene, and why finding joy in a crumbling world is the most rebellious act of all.

The journey to METALICIOUS was, in Collins‘ own words, a homecoming. After releasing her debut full-length album Hot Singles in Your Area, a record that took years to complete, she found herself revisiting the two Bimbocore EPs that started it all. “I had taken quite a bit of time off of writing… it had been years since I had written Bimbocore Volume One, and I kind of wanted to go back and re-listen to [both Bimbocore Volumes],” she explains. “I wanted to be like, what would I change if I were to make this EP again now?”

Her reflections became the foundation for METALICIOUS, a record that she wanted to feel both like a tribute to her salacious roots but also a deliberate evolution. “I think back then I was trying to craft the sound and also explain, like, ‘this is what Bimbocore is’, versus with the conception of METALICIOUS,” she expands. “[I] was in a little bit of a rut, kind of going through some personal stuff and I want[ed] to make a very angry but also fun party album, and I want[ed] to pay homage to that era, but to do it in the best possible way.” Pondering on her personal growth, she continues. “For me, what I felt was lacking a little bit was more interesting song structure, I wanted to go a little bit heavier, I’d been working on some screams since then… but also I just want to, you know, ramp up like that drivey sort of party vibe to 110.”

The context of the original Bimbocore EPs were written during the height of the pandemic in 2020, a time which couldn’t be more different from the world METALICIOUS was born into: “People were, you know, sad, and also wanted to let some rage out, so I feel like that album kind of encompasses that era in my life.” The new record, however, reflects a different kind of defiance; in a stressful world where she sees “…so much horrific stuff on the news every day”, Collins proclaims “…the most rebellious thing that you can do… is to find joy within yourself and in life anyway.”Practising what she preaches, “regardless of what’s going on around me, I’m gonna try my best to party,”joking, “if I go out at a party, then, that’s it! You know, at least I went out on a good note.”

One of the central tenets to SCENE QUEEN’s success has been how her music resonates with fans, including those who are femme-presenting, queer, disabled, and/or marginalised in some other way “because [she’s made] a point to talk about all these issues” affecting those groups at her shows. When asked which song she’d want fans to take away and marinate on, Collins is torn. “I feel like they all kind of serve a different purpose. Like, I love Manicure in the storytelling sense of it all. But then, my personal favourite on this one, I’d say is my song Tits Out At Brunch, structurally, it’s fun, but it still has such a catchy chorus to it.” But beneath the chaotic energy and the glitter, Collins is deeply intentional about the spaces she creates. She recognises that her shows have become known as safe havens for these fans, a fact she takes more seriously than many would expect. “I have made it a point in my career where even from my merch designs, I do everything of the lens of ‘would women and queer people like this first?’ Even with the cuts of some of my shirts, I’m thinking of the fits, in every possible way.”

Thanks to her support slots on tours with bands like BABYMETAL and ELECTRIC CALLBOY, that safe space is now expanding and has brought more male fans into the fold. She notes the change positively, emphasising that whilst it’s “been really cool to see the change in that”, she still maintains “…because [she has] spent, you know, the six years prior to them showing up” cultivating a safe environment, she still wants to make sure “if you step foot at a SCENE QUEEN show, you know that you’re stepping into like a sacred space”. The shift has been both surprising and heartening, and so far, it’s been successful. “They’re very respectful of like, if there’s a mosh pit, they’re not shoving girls for no reason, they’re not trying to crowd kill and the like. I just thought my whole career, I was just gonna be for only girls and queer people, and I was content with that, but it is nice to know now that it’s reaching places where I didn’t initially expect it to go, which is cool.”

Looking at the imminent future, the conversation turns to the upcoming METALICIOUS tour with WARGASM UK – a tour that Collins still can’t quite believe is happening, having once been their UK opener in 2022. “WARGASM and I, we’ve become very good friends outside of music,” reminiscing on her “deep love for them, because they were the first band to give me a chance as far as opening up; they were my first ever support tour. I was so grateful that they wanted to take me out and especially like they were the reason I went overseas, you know?” Reflecting on her recent European summer, which included a main stage slot at Download Festival, Collins is both proud and pragmatic about what comes next. “…not to disappoint my UK and Europe fans, but I haven’t properly supported an artist in three years over on in that territory, so I think if they’re going to expect me to come over, they kind of need to expect me to do that.”

As the conversation winds down, talk turns to the future, and Collins is candid about her ambitions and the creative avenues she’s yet to explore. “I think people always expect me to do some sort of pivot where I do a very sad song. The thing that I struggle with, that is, even if I was in the absolute worst mental state of my life, how I cope with things is through the lens of humour,” pointing to the closer on her last album Climax as evidence. In the same way SCENE QUEEN uses her comedic nature as a coping mechanism through writing, she recognises maybe “…people listen to [her] music for a very specific purpose, and [she would] never want to take away from that.” Upon further speculation. “Like, who knows? Maybe I’ll do a metalcore song, and you’ll all be so surprised how much I’m singing on it. Or vice versa, I want to get in with a hardcore band and just rip on a song that is maybe unlistenable to some of my pop fans, you know?”

Upon suggestion of a SCENE QUEEN x KNOCKED LOOSE collaboration, when thinking of two polar opposite sounds, she’s immediately on board. “Hayley Williams said recently that her dying wish is to be in like 10,000 bands. I feel that in some capacity. I would love to feature with a million bands!” Who knows, maybe her “side project… ‘Mean Queen’ [where she’s]… never funny once” will make its debut one day, where the music is “…just put downs the entire time.” – one can only manifest it. And with that jest, Distorted Sound’s time comes to a riotous close.

METALICIOUS is out now via Hopeless Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS133 here.

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