Pop Girl Spring: A Round-up
Kacey Musgraves, Billie Eilish, Gracie Abrams, and of course, the Tortured Poets Department
So much music has been released this spring. From March until now, there’s been a new album dropping almost every week at a rate I can hardly keep up with.
In recent years I’ve come to appreciate the album as an art form of its own. Back when I used to buy music by the song off iTunes, I didn’t want to waste money on songs I wasn’t going to listen to. Now that I have access to a huge library of music thanks to streaming (let’s just have a moment of silence for high school me—I couldn’t have even fathomed that I could access almost every song in the world for $16 a month, much less than I used to spend on 2-3 albums at Target and a smattering of singles on iTunes every month) I love to listen to entire albums and think about what they say as a whole.
Some have said the music explosion this spring has just been “meh.” While not every album has delivered for me, I’ve definitely found some winners. Here are my thoughts.
eternal sunshine — Ariana Grande
I’m a casual Ariana fan, and I’ve never listened to an entire album of hers before—I mostly just hear the singles at my dance fitness class. I liked eternal sunshine fine—a few of the songs are fun to listen to, and it’s cohesive enough that it makes a decent background track if I want to listen to something upbeat while I’m working.
Favorite track: “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”
Deeper Well — Kacey Musgraves
Spoiler alert—this might be my favorite album on this list. I am a longtime Kacey Musgraves fan, and Deeper Well feels different from her other work, but in a beautiful way. The whole seventies/folk aesthetic of the album really resonates with me. It’s the perfect length to go on a leisurely two-mile walk and listen from start to finish.
Favorite tracks: “Cardinal,” “The Architect,” “Nothing to Be Scared Of”
COWBOY CARTER — Beyoncé
I listened to COWBOY CARTER from start to finish the morning after it came out… and I haven’t since. It’s brilliant, and I think it completely deserves to win Album of the Year. I think for some reason, it’s very much a complete work in my mind—I feel obligated to listen from start to finish again, which is a little overwhelming when the album is 27 tracks. I need to spend more time with it, I think—I know it’s objectively good, but I’m not quite meeting it in the right place.
Favorite tracks: “PROTECTOR,” “YA YA”
Older — Lizzy McAlpine
Don’t hate me, but this album was a letdown for me. Lizzy McAlpine’s previous music felt really fresh and different to me. These songs all have a really similar sound to me, and I don’t always love the musicality of it. There’s a jazzier style and it isn’t quite working for me. I did hear McAlpine say on a podcast that this entire album is about the same relationship, which does intrigue me a little bit more because I’m curious about the story there. I am still trying to “get it” with Older—I’d like to go on a walk and listen more attentively to get at the story. It makes a decent background album for journaling, if nothing else.
Favorite tracks: “Movie Star,” “Drunk, Running”
ver2igo vol. 2 — Griff
This isn’t a full-length album—it’s actually a 4-track EP, and when I went back to revisit it, I saw that a full-length will drop next month. Which is great news, because Griff is so fun to listen to. I love the production on her songs, she has a beautiful voice, and the lyrics are heartfelt.
Favorite track: “Hole In My Pocket”
Don’t Forget Me — Maggie Rogers
Maggie Rogers’ first album, Heard It In a Past Life, was such a phenomenon, and then I really didn’t resonate much with her sophomore record. In general, I find Maggie Rogers to be a fascinating person—she recently finished a graduate degree at Harvard Divinity School, and her Notes From the Archive album with commentary gives such a fascinating look at the creative process. I had hopes for something more to my taste with Don’t Forget Me, and I think the album is much better than Surrender, but I still don’t find myself going to it. I might just need more time—it was eclipsed by The Tortured Poets Department. When I listened to it the morning after it came out, I was grinning and thinking she was back, with a folksier, less-produced, but just as catchy version of Heard It In a Past Life. But I’m not finding it as memorable as I thought I would. I did recently hear that the album was written with a younger persona in mind, which is an interesting concept to me. I’d like to listen to the album with that filter in mind.
(As a side note, I heard that she is really rude to fans. I should definitely take gossip podcasts with a grain of salt, but it still makes me feel a bummed out and less interested, whether or not that’s fair.)
Favorite tracks: “So Sick of Dreaming,” “The Kill”
The Tortured Poets Department — Taylor Swift
I’ve been on a journey with TTPD. The first time through, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. It was a lot to take in, and some of it left me feeling confused. I know purists say the song paternity tests diminish the art and so on, but I can’t help it—I got the ick from so many songs being about Matty Healy.
However, the more I listened, the more it all got into my brain. TTPD is a rich text with a lot of things to analyze, and it grew on me over time. I also think once I listened to it as a whole the narrative of the relationship as presented by Taylor Swift made more sense to me. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t think she owes me or anyone else an explanation for who she wants to date or why. But understanding the “temporary mania,” as she phrased it, through the narrative arc of the original album and the supplemental material of the anthology tracks, eventually brought it together in a way that I enjoyed.
I think there’s some great music on this album. In fact, I think Swift’s most poetic song is “loml”—the metaphors are exquisite and heartbreaking. But now that I’m out of the listening frenzy I was in for the first month or so after its release, I’m reaching for other things. I think TTPD is a great album in Swift’s discography, but it’s not in my top 5.
Favorite tracks: “loml,” “The Black Dog,” “Peter”
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT — Billie Eilish
I really liked this album. With Billie’s other albums, there are usually a few songs I put on playlists and I don’t revisit the others. This one feels very cohesive to me, and I have found myself listening to it beginning to end. At the same time, there are fewer songs that really stand out and make me want to listen to them over and over again. It’s mostly sad, beautiful songs—I would have liked a couple more bangers.
Favorite track: “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE”
Chaos Angel — Maya Hawke
I read an interview with Maya Hawke lately where she was disappointed that everyone at her shows were Stranger Things wanting to catch a glimpse of her. To be honest, my girl crush on Robin Buckley is the reason I started listening, too (and now she’s the voice of the personification of my whole personality, Anxiety, so the fangirling continues)—but genuinely, I love the music. It’s quiet and folksy and a little weird and I love her raspy voice, too. The songs do blur into each other for me a bit, both in this album and Hawke’s others. But I definitely reach for them often, and Chaos Angel will definitely stay in the rotation.
Favorite tracks: “Missing Out,” “Better”
The Secret of Us — Gracie Abrams
I haven’t had enough time with this album to give it a full review, but I couldn’t leave it out! I avoided Gracie Abrams for a while—I had in my mind that she was just this derivative of Taylor Swift and there was the nepo baby of it all, and I just wasn’t interested. We can thank Spotify’s daylists for finally getting me to buy in. It snuck Abrams’ tracks into all my playlists, and with good reason, because I love her. Maybe I love her because she’s derivative of Taylor Swift (especially the Aaron Dessner flavor of Taylor Swift). But honestly, her music just hooks into me. I think she’s great at storytelling, and I relate to her themes of self-doubt and anxiety (fun, I know!). I think she’s a beautiful songwriter, and I’m excited to spend more time with The Secret of Us. (Also, the behind-the-scenes footage of “us.” with Taylor Swift is hilarious, if you haven’t seen it.)
Favorite tracks: “us.", “Tough Love,” “Close to You”
Have any of these albums made their way into your rotation this spring? Anything I missed that I should be listening to? Tell me what you’ve been into in the comments.
Love it! Deeper Well, The Secret of Us, and of course TTPD are the ones I've kept on rotation, with a smattering from Cowboy Carter and Hit Me Hard and Soft. Also please tell me you've been listening to the Pop Girl Spring episodes of the Every Single Album podcast?!?
This is so helpful! Thanks for making this. Currently listening to Gracie Abrams who I had never heard of until I read your post.