Junior Varsity

Blending unconventional pop with relaxed yet stadium-ready alternative rock, Junior Varsity rose from cryptic social-media fixtures to mainstream pop prominence upon issuing their self-titled debut EP in 2021. The follow-up EP Side B surfaced the next year, and My Star followed in 2024.

The act was established in Los Angeles in 2019 by Greg Aram and Zach Michel, who had first met during their school years in New York City. The pair began posting brief song excerpts as incidental audio on their social accounts. These quick bursts of vigorous pop craft stirred considerable interest across the L.A. music community and attracted Warner Records, which signed them in 2020 and thereby paved the way for the debut single “Cold Blood” in 2021; that track later appeared on the self-titled EP released the same year. Their second EP, Side B, arrived in 2022 and featured the singles “Rushh” and “I’m Not a Boy.” Two years afterward the trio of EPs reached completion with My Star, whose songs—including the streaming favorite “Cross the Street”—explore urban living, relationships, and self-development.