A musical comedy duo featuring an Arlington native appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” last week to talk about a viral music video.
Yorktown High School graduate Annie Nardolilli and Alexandria native Louisa Hall have been recording lighthearted hits under the name Griefcat since 2019. Appearing on television last Monday afternoon, they discussed their song “I Already Took Off My Bra,” which came out last year and has over 50 million views across platforms.
It’s about the joys of staying at home on a Saturday night.
“We love what we do,” Nardolilli said on “Kelly Clarkson.” “We love bringing people a little levity. We know we’re not exactly doctors or lawmakers changing the world, but we love just bringing people a little bit of joy through our music.”
Nardolilli, a former Arlington County Sheriff’s Deputy, met Hall at a comedy showcase in D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood in 2015. Since then, the duo has amassed 112,000 followers on Instagram and 34,000 on TikTok.
“They’re not like silly songs that we haphazardly made on our computer — no shade to the bedroom instrumentalist — but we really did treat it like a professional album,” Nardolilli told ARLnow. “They just happened to be songs about, like, pooping at work.”
“I Already Took Off My Bra” is Griefcat’s biggest hit to date. In addition to Kelly Clarkson, the song captured the attention of actress Viola Davis, who reposted a clip of the song to Instagram.
“We were like, what is happening here?” Hall said. “Like, what? Who needs a Grammy? That’s crazy!”
“The Kelly Clarkson Show” featured Griefcat on one of its final episodes — the show’s eight-season run is set to end this fall. Actress Kerri Kenney-Silver conducted the interview as a guest host.
“It was just a really huge honor for them to reach out and for us to get involved, and it was a really, really wonderful experience,” Hall said. “It’s also just been really fun to see, in our local community, how people have been excited and reaching out. I’ve gotten texts from so many people that I haven’t heard from in ages, so it’s just a really, really fun moment.”
Before Griefcat, Nardolilli and Hall made music separately and played at comedy showcases in the area. They both say they got their start in musical comedy when they were in high school writing parody songs for history class.
Nardolilli and Hall play live at local venues and festivals, but also tour around the country and even internationally. They just got back from a trip to Canada, and they ran a UK tour earlier this year. Their next show is in Denver before they return home to play consecutive shows in Baltimore, Greenbelt, Md. and D.C.
More information about Griefcat’s touring schedule and ticket offerings is available on its website.
