Clairo

“Reaper” describes the societal expectations of motherhood that young women often struggle with. After adopting her dog Joanie, Claire was “forced to face [her] own thoughts about parenthood and what that means”, according to a June 2021 tweet. In her July 17, 2021 interview for Apple Music, Clairo revealed that “Reaper” was the first track from Sling to be written, in July 2020, prior to adopting Joanie in December 2020. "It was the first song I wrote that ever talked about motherhood or talked about parenthood in a way that I wasn’t thinking about it before. ‘Reaper’ kind of came to fruition by talking to my mom about her role in my life. I looked at my mom very differently ‘cause I was able to see all of the sacrifices she had made for me. Also thinking about how I know less about who my mom was before she was wife and before she was mom." – Clairo via Apple Music "I wrote this song called “Reaper” last summer that was oddly enough about motherhood. I was thinking, “Do I have kids because it’ll make everyone happy? Would it make me happy? Do I even want kids? Is this the right climate for kids?” I know it’s too soon to think about kids—at least for me—but these questions were all crossing my mind for the first time. “Reaper” ended up becoming the first song on "Sling", and the album just started expanding from there. I was spending a lot of time with my mom and thinking about the sacrifices that mothers and parents in general make. Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember that my mom was an individual before she met my dad and had children. She had an entire life that’s really only accounted for by stories or photos. I started wondering if I was in that part of my life, and where that part of your identity goes when you have a child." – Clairo via Vogue