After what felt like 5eva, the w8 is finally over for the first look at season two of Girls5eva, Peacock’s riotously funny series about a girl group from the ’90s reuniting decades later.
“Girls5eva are hoping to become two-hit wonders,” declares the trailer, which dropped on Tuesday. Starring Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as the titular band, Girls5eva season two sees the women trying to leverage their 15 minutes of fame from the first season into a full-fledged career comeback. Goldsberry’s Beyoncé-esque character dramatically sets the stage, announcing, “We are officially in album mode.”
The show’s sophomore season appears to rely on the same simple formula that worked so well the first time. The jokes largely hinge on the gag of these women in their 40s trying to navigate pop stardom in the Gen Z-dominated social media age and balancing their musical ambitions with motherhood and day jobs. They do a chaotic Instagram livestream for zero viewers. Summer, Philipps’ ditsy blonde sexpot, notes that she’s “v avail” since her daughter, Stevia (!!), never talks to her.
And then there are the songs, with music by Tina Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond, and lyrics by series creator Meredith Scardino (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). The original songs are arguably the best part of the show, at once satirizing and paying homage to the bubblegum pop, not-so-subtly sexist hits of the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Take, for example, the masterpiece that is “Dream Girlfriends.” “We’re dream girlfriends ‘cause our dads are dead so you never have to meet them, and get asked why you left school,” the group sings. “Love watching stand-up, but not by women. Runnin’ in pumps, never takin’ dumps, and my feet are a child size four.” Then there’s Paula Pell’s hilarious line delivery when she, an openly gay dentist in her fifties, pleads that she doesn’t want to have to sing “Daddy’s Hot Friend” anymore. The trailer for the upcoming season only offers brief glimpses of the new music, but there is one snippet of a throwback song with a glaring spelling error: “We don’t want no average Joe, so you better be rollin’ in some Doug.”
Girls5eva is executive produced by Fey, Richmond, and Scardino, and it’s full of classic Fey-isms. Bareilles is essentially doing a Liz Lemon impression as the group’s homebody straight-man character.
In addition to the core four, season one cast members Ashley Park and Andrew Rannells pop up throughout the trailer. Meanwhile, Heidi Gardner, Tim Meadows, Amber Ruffin, Grey Henson, and Mario Cantone are among the fresh faces appearing in this new batch of episodes.
Season two of Girls5eva premieres on Peacock on May 5.
