Cape Town's Internet Girl bring their punk-hyperpop to Subterranean

The South African trio, with a debut album said to be on the way, plays the 400-capacity room on Sunday, Nov. 15.

Every so often a band shows up in Chicago with the kind of ambition you can hear from the sidewalk. Internet Girl told OkayAfrica they want to be the biggest band out of South Africa. On Sunday, Nov. 15, they bring that pitch to Subterranean.

The details: the show starts at 7 p.m., tickets are $22 through OpenDate, and Subterranean holds about 400. That is a tight, sweaty room for a band built on volume and attitude, which is exactly how you want to meet them.

Internet Girl are a trio from Cape Town, and the label that sticks to them is punk-hyperpop. Hype Magazine used it in 2024, when Apple Music picked them for its Up Next program in South Africa, a nod Music In Africa also reported. Listings for the show tag them EDM, indie and pop, and the mix is the point: guitars, programmed beats and hooks that would not be out of place on a pop playlist, played with punk's lack of patience.

Guitars, programmed beats and punk's lack of patience.

They have been busy putting out music. Their EP *Parasocial Interaction* came out through R&R/Warner Records, and a 2025 release carried the defiant title *THOSE WHO ARE AGAINST US ALL THE TIME*. At home they have grown into a headline draw: their Family Values Tour opened in Johannesburg and closed in Cape Town in early 2025, with songs like "PULL UP" from *ROLE MODEL* in the set, per a What's On in Joburg listing. Their singer's road from the mining town of Carletonville to the capital has been its own story in the South African press, as SMF News told it.

What comes next is the bigger headline. A Toronto show listing for this tour says the band's debut album, *YES*, arrives at the end of 2026, with collaborations featuring Kenny Mason and Ledbyher. If that holds, Chicago is catching them right on the edge of a record that is meant to take them to a wider audience, the moment when a band's set is full of songs the crowd has not quite learned yet.

The routing backs up the sense of momentum. The tour comes through Brooklyn on Nov. 11 and Philadelphia on Nov. 12 before Chicago, then heads west to Los Angeles on Nov. 17 and San Francisco on Nov. 19. A Sunday stop in the middle of a run like that tends to be loose and loud, a band in full road shape without the pressure of a coast-city showcase.

It is also a chance to hear a scene most of us rarely get to. South African guitar music does not come through Chicago often, and a band this young making noise this far from home is worth an early Sunday night.

A practical note: the 7 p.m. start leaves time for dinner afterward and a reasonable bedtime before Monday. Check the OpenDate page for age policy before you go.

Then get there for the first song. Bands with this much to prove do not ease into a set.

Sources: Internet Girl Wants to Be the Biggest Band Out of South Africa (OkayAfrica) (okayafrica.com); Cape Town based punk hyperpop band Internet Girl make global waves as Apple Music's latest Up Next South Africa artists (Hype Magazine) (hypemagazine.co.za); SA punk trio Internet Girl added to Apple Music Up Next campaign (Music In Africa) (musicinafrica.net); Internet Girl: Family Values Tour (What's On in Joburg) (whatsoninjoburg.com); From Carletonville to the capital: The journey of Internet Girl's lead singer (SMF News) (smfnews.org); Internet Girl – Toronto (Admit One) (admitone.com); Internet Girl (Apple Music) (music.apple.com); Tickets (OpenDate) (app.opendate.io); Internet Girl at Subterranean (JamBase) (jambase.com)