After a protracted stretch the place barely discernible ‘mumble rap’ and hazy, languid R&B beats dominated the radio and tilted in style music, the pandemic has ushered in a brand new wave of feel-good, glittery pop. This 12 months, Ava Max and Ellie Goulding shifted their fashion to this emphasis on enjoyable, and TikTok-minted newcomers like Reneé Rapp and Mimi Webb have entered the ring as properly.
Maisie Peters’ second album, The Good Witch, follows the identical sample: a strong album of dance-pop paired with the identical bounciness and readability that mid-2010s pop songs used to dominate the radio. Peters may have simply lapsed into forgettable lyrics, however typically contains subjects finished in a wise manner that pop music again then would have by no means touched: physique dysmorphia and even gender switching to say dominance (on one tune she declares, “You’re only a boy, and I’m kinda the person.”)
Peters is aware of the right way to write a catchy tune, and her voice is wise, sharp, and becoming for the digs that permeate the album. “Misplaced The Breakup” pares down a previous relationship to a contest able to successful, a race to see who can get out of it faster, stronger, and higher – very like MUNA’s latest “One That Acquired Away.” “Coming of Age” and “There It Goes” tracks self-development and assurance in oneself: “I’m the Iliad,” she says on the previous, “In fact you couldn’t learn me.”
The album contains extra tender moments, when Peters is on the reverse finish of the breakup: “Watch” goes into pop-punk territory as she sees a former accomplice’s success (“You’re being a celebrity and all I bought are sufferer playing cards”); the peppy “Physique Higher” sees her in a second of hypothesis and envy, questioning if she’s been dumped as a result of a unique lady has a nicer physique than hers; “BSC” ditches the pretenses and manners, admitting how a relationship affected her. “You suppose I’m alright, however I’m really motherfucking batshit loopy,” she sings, which narrowly loses the title of the album’s funniest line to “I’m each Kathy Bates and Steven King,” showing on the identical tune.
The file’s few missteps largely reprise themes or instrumental concepts which might be too dated: “Two Weeks In the past” is an try at a power-pop ballad, and “Need You Again” has a greater premise, however nonetheless sounds as if it’s plucked from ten years in the past, proper subsequent to Rachel Platten’s inescapable “Combat Track.” “Remedy” too, is slightly contrived, an unwelcome symptom from Instagram mental-health communicate: “How come you’re taking me out of your arms again into remedy?” she asks, with out realising what’s mentioned in that session may make for a greater tune subject.
The Good Witch is nice pop, a file that doesn’t really feel prefer it’s attempting too laborious whereas nonetheless slicing with witty writing. Peters has a enjoyable facet, however her creativity is clear in locations like nearer “Historical past of Man,” which boasts subjects most pop stars wouldn’t even suppose to write down about, going again by way of historical past and discussing the gender variations between highly effective women and men. “Girls’s hearts are deadly weapons,” she says, “Did you maintain mine and really feel threatened?” Such is the story of a lady with smarts and coronary heart to spare.