Sub Pop Records is extremely proud to announce the return (for our 19th year!) of the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship. Further details on the scholarship are below, and even further below is some clarification on what we mean with all this “Loser” business.

Sub Pop Records is offering a grand total of $18,000 in college scholarship money to three eligible high school seniors. There are three scholarships—each for $6,000! As longtime, proud losers ourselves, we’re exceedingly happy to be able, in some small way, to help further the education of art-enthused misfits from the NW. Individuals from all cultures and communities are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be residents of Washington or Oregon and graduating seniors on the way to full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for applicants who are involved and/or interested in music and/or creative media and arts in some way. However, you do not need to be pursuing an education in the arts.

To apply: you must submit an essay, one page or less, using any combination of the following questions as a guide (or write something completely your own, be inspired and creative!). Please list the school you are graduating from and the school you plan to attend in the fall at the top of your essay along with your contact information.

- What are you doing in the arts/music field in your community?

- What does being a Sub Pop ‘Loser’ mean to you?

- What are your influences and/or who inspired you to become involved in the arts?

- Describe your biggest failure and explain how it has brought you closer to your goal(s).

- Discuss a special attribute or accomplishment that sets you apart.

- How has your family or community background affected the way you see the world?

- Why should you be the Loser winner?

Applicants are strongly (!) encouraged to send digital links and/or provide hard copies of their artwork, photos of community involvement, radio show links, videos, etc., along with their essay (we have never had a winner who submitted only an essay w/no extras). However, please be aware that Sub Pop will not return any of this material, so please don’t send originals. Sub Pop will give equal opportunity to all applicants who fit the criteria outlined above.

The deadline for applications is Tuesday, March 18th, 2025.

Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Tuesday, March 18th. We will announce the scholarship winners during the first week of April.

What we talk about when we talk about “Loser.”
Here at Sub Pop Records, we use the word “loser” a lot. You may have noticed. We’ve printed it on things we sell (hats, shirts, stickers, mugs, and more!), we call the first, colored-vinyl, limited-edition pressings of the records we release the “Loser Edition,” and every year since 2007 ish we’ve awarded tuition money to college-bound NW high school students through the “Sub Pop Loser Scholarship.” And, it’s possible we take for granted that you guys catch our drift and understand what we mean when we’re all “loser this,” and “loser that.” So! The following…

 Sub Pop’s use of the word “loser” goes back to the foundation of the label and is meant as a celebration of unabashedly being ourselves without conforming to any preconceived ideas of “normal.” To be a loser is central to the very idea of underground art and culture - all of it happening and thriving outside of the mainstream, and not necessarily looking for a way in. Bruce Pavitt’s “New Pop Manifesto” in the 1st issue of Subterranean Pop included, “The important thing to remember is this: the most intense music, the most original ideas… are coming out of scenes you don’t even know exist… Only by supporting new ideas by local artists, bands, and record labels can the U.S. expect any kind of dynamic social/cultural change…” And, since 2007 or so, with the Loser Scholarship, we’ve been adding students to that list and putting our (or our co-founder, big boss, and biggest loser ever, Jonathan Poneman’s…) money where our mouth is. Sub Pop Records strives to bring attention to music and art from the fringes that might otherwise remain marginalized. And, in that same spirit, through our annual Loser Scholarship, we’re looking for art-enthused misfits in NW high schools, losers like us, to help them pay for college. We stand proudly with and support the misfits, weirdos, and losers because we believe that when we’re able to proudly be nothing other than our true selves, we have the ability to make the world stronger, smarter, and better.

So, good luck, Losers!

Again, please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Tuesday, March 18th.

Today, February 13th, Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno) has released a reworked version of her stand-out single, “Atom Bomb - Electric Version.” Initially released a year ago in Feb. 2024, this newly retooled single was a fan favorite at her live performances throughout last year.

Bognanno shares, “I think that if a song is written well enough at its core, it should be able to translate a similar emotion regardless of its form. I wanted to test that theory with Atom Bomb. Releasing a solo piano song for the first time and playing it live 10 years into my career to a room full of strangers falling silent without request resurrects a sense of boundlessness in me that reinstates what I try to tell myself anytime I find myself fearful of stepping outside of the box people expect to remain in, and that is - if I really want to grow I should stop fearing what I don’t know. I still have nights where my mind goes blank from performance anxiety, and I have to pause mid-song to regain my composure, but even when I feel like I couldn’t have fallen apart more on stage, I still can recognize that I survived and that it’s okay. I played and mixed all of this version of Atom Bomb in my room except for drums which were recorded and played by JT Daly. Coming from an analog background, it feels good to release something that I know isn’t autotuned or on a grid; it’s genuine and imperfect in a way that I feel suits the song best. Whether or not it translates well is subjective, but regardless, I was fulfilled by the process and experimentation of it all.”
 
Spending most of last year on the road touring to support her 2023 release, Lucky For You, Bully opened SOLD-OUT shows for Suki Waterhouse and Grouplove. She was also featured on the standalone Blondshell single “Docket.” She’s currently hard at work writing her new album. Bully has a headline show confirmed at Friday Cheers in Richmond, VA, on May 9th.