In 2012, three middle school girls, Peyton Wilson and sisters Brenna and Mirran Grein, entered a local talent show. Needing a group name, they jokingly came up with Shoulda Been Blonde. (They won the talent show by the way.) They continued to play in local restaurants and downtown shops whenever invited. By 2015, in order to expand their sound, the band recruited a cousin, Lauren Grein, who was 14 and added Madelyn Idleman who was just 11 at the time. With all five girls competent vocalists, early gigs featured lots of harmonies and saw the girls switching roles and instruments on most every song.
After seven years, two EP’s, and a full-length album, “Worth” released September 2019, Shoulda Been Blonde (now ranging in age from 14-20) have both refined and simplified their sound. With Peyton and Brenna handling most of the songwriting duties, the band has settled on a consistent lineup of Peyton on vocals, Brenna on bass and keyboards, Lauren covering lead guitar, Maddie playing rhythm guitar and Mirran on drums.
Gigs feature mostly original material but also showcase covers from some of the girls’ favorite bands, such as Paramore, Florence and the Machine, The Killers, Walk the Moon and Bastille or they might include a unique version of a Taylor Swift or Shawn Mendez song. Their fun yet profound lyrics give them a unique quirky sound.
“When we first started Shoulda Been Blonde, Peyton, Mirran, and I played as an acoustic trio in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Since then we’ve become a fully formed band of five and are always growing in our musical abilities,” said Brenna. “The entire town of Shawnee has supported us from the beginning. They’ve asked us to play many times over the years and have helped us branch out to other parts of the state. It’s amazing to be in a place that supports their musicians.”
For more information and to listen to their music, please visit Shoulda Been Blonde’s listing in the Oklahoma Music Directory.