The Beautiful Girls are an Australian roots music group founded in Sydney in 2001 by Mat McHugh, Clay MacDonald, and Mitchell Connelly.

They have released three extended plays, Morning Sun (2002), Goodtimes (2002), and The Weight of the World (2004), plus five studio albums, Learn Yourself (2003), We're Already Gone (2005), Ziggurats (2007), Spooks (2010), and Dancehall Days (2014).

Clay MacDonald fronts multiple bands, including The Orange Bird, The Lung, The Guilty Conscience, The Oort Cloud, and Hungdonkey.

The pair provided the rhythm section on Angus & Julia Stone's first two EPs and first two albums, and toured extensively with the siblings from 2007 to 2009.

By 2014, The Beautiful Girls had toured the world multiple times – including Japan, Canada, Brazil, and the United States – and their total album sales had reached 350,000.

Previously, McHugh had travelled to New York to pursue a music career, and he returned to Sydney to record some demos, at which point he founded the band.

On 22 September 2003, the group released their debut studio album, Learn Yourself, which was co-produced by McHugh and Ian Pritchett.

[7] In January 2005, they released a four-track EP, The Weight of the World, where the title track was a "rollicking, dance hall tune, featuring, wails of melodica and a tinge of hip hop, [it] has already been added to rotation on JJJ".

[7] On 4 July of that year, with Kimieck aboard on melodica, harmonica, and keyboards, the band recorded their second album, We're Already Gone,[8] which peaked at No.

[9] It was produced by McHugh and Pritchett on The Beautiful Girls' own label, San Dumo Records, and distributed by MGM.

They then went on to follow their own projects, Connelly with aliTTLErowBOAT and MacDonald with The Orange Bird, Hungdonkey, and later, The Lung, The Oort Cloud, and The Guilty Conscience.

[14] At the APRA Music Awards of 2008, "I Thought About You" – written by McHugh – was nominated for 'Blues & Roots Work of the Year'.

[14] McHugh launched his solo career, however, late in 2008, a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles forced him to be hospitalised and delayed the release of his album Seperatista!.

[16] On 25 May 2010, The Beautiful Girls, with the line-up of McHugh and Braybrooke joined by Paulie Bromley on bass guitar, issued their fourth album, Spooks.

[20] In April 2012, McHugh's second solo album, Love Come Save Me, was released on his website as a free download.