EP REVIEW: BE THAT GIRL BY CORA
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 26 June 2026
The 20-year-old musician from the Sunshine Coast, Cora, has delivered a blistering pop-punk debut Extended Player (EP) in ‘Be That Girl’. It’s bitchy, sharp, cynical and insightful, and the distorted pop-punk musicality is awesome.
The EP explodes with the anxiety-driven ‘She’s So Pretty’. The clash of the chugging guitar and scattered drum beats drives the pulse. The narrative explores the insecurity of girls negotiating modern society through the internet. The song has that teenage sneer and defiance of “She’s so pretty isn’t she”. The image of females online sends them sinking into a pit of jealousy. This song is the shout back in “spite” at that false world.
Cora follows with the “domesticated” and “never dating” song about a ‘(Boy)cott’. It’s the best song on the album about a failure of a man-child – “Baby! Pull your pants up”, as the “medicated” and “suffocated” singer tells the problem: “Do leave your message at the tone”. The next song, is probably telling the ex of a friend to ‘Take A Hike’. The drum beats and the lightly distorted vocals give the song that strong edge of the pop-punk takedown.
The title track, ‘Be That Girl’, is a lyrical diary confession wrapped in a rock ballad. It is stripped back to electric guitar and vocals. It is a powerful song about “cobwebs” in the mind as “slowly shrinking” is a condition, as she “wants to cover myself up”. Lyrically, it’s about the want for love and acceptance in the face of changing into “that girl”. Cora peels back the layers and exposes the growing pains of life. It is followed by ‘Your Toy’, and it is a straight up pop-rock song about “just a boy to avoid”. It is a song about falling for the wrong guy. The sonic palette is a pastiche of 2000s pop-rock sounds.
The EP closes with the guitar-led ‘Gotta Be Done’, and it’s a complete flex with an unapologetic middle finger as she bursts their bubble, “but it’s gotta be done”. Cora’s narrative states that the boy, who wears a “crown”, is “pathetic”, a “show-off”, and is now the punchline. It’s smart and sassy!
Cora’s EP ‘Be that Girl’ is a six-song taster. And what a taste! Cora radiates confidence in her songwriting, musicality and vocal delivery. The EP rocks as it takes a mirror to human foibles: hers, cheating and privileged boys, and society. ‘Be That Girl’ does not “disassociate” instead, it rubs the grit into the gloss of its six pop-punk songs: raw, real and so much fun!
Cora’s ‘Be that Girl’ is an outstanding debut!
