Move Over Dave, There’s A New Grohl Running the Alt-rock Playground

Song of the Day: “Bug in the Cake” by Violet Grohl

Jun 04, 2026

Escaping a legendary rock-and-roll parent’s shadow usually goes one of two ways: you either lean entirely into the family business or sprint aggressively in the opposite direction. On her debut full-length record, Be Sweet To Me, Violet Grohl wisely chooses a third path. She has essentially barricaded herself in the family attic, sifted through vintage flannel and obscure 1990s alternative records, and emerged with something that sounds less like a genetic inheritance and more like a beautifully executed heist. The album feels genuine because it rejects the neat, polished sheen of modern pop-rock. Grohl and her band sound looser, heavier, and far more eccentric than anyone expected.

To understand where Be Sweet To Me sits in the grand scheme of Grohl’s musical evolution, you have to look at her steady graduation from “nepotism-adjacent side-stage fixture” to a front-and-center force. She’s provided ethereal backing vocals on Foo Fighters tracks and delivered capable, if safely reverent, tribute covers of punk classics. This record marks the moment she stops acting as a historical preservationist for her father’s generation and starts forging her own path. It is a calculated leap from polite, acoustic-adjacent folk into a much weirder world of airy shoegaze riffs, dry 1980s pop hooks, and sludgy grunge that sounds like it was recorded in a damp basement.

Surprisingly, daddy Dave Grohl didn’t contribute a single thing to Be Sweet To Me—no stealthy backing vocals, no cameo guitar solos, and he wasn’t even allowed to touch a drum stick. In fact, one of the most impressive aspects of the record is how deliberately devoid it is of obvious celebrity or family-friend gimmicks. Aside from a feature by Shane Hawkins (son of the late Taylor Hawkins) playing drums on the final track, “Plastic Couch,” the album was kept entirely free of the extended Foo Fighters universe.

While the singles “THUM” and “595” lean hard into a calculated grit, it’s “Bug in the Cake“ that separates itself as the standout track for me. Written about moving into her late grandmother’s house and experiencing surreal, slightly haunted occurrences, the track manages to be both deeply personal and delightfully absurd. Musically, it is driven by a propulsive bass line and driving drum pattern that anchors a series of jagged, unpredictable guitar riffs. Her delivery of lines like, “Come on, Grandma, play me your favourite song,” avoids any sort of mawkish sentimentality, opting instead for a playful, deadpan charm. It is the most dynamically satisfying piece on the record, proving that her band can deliver infectious, upbeat melodies without sacrificing an ounce of their alt cred.