March 15th to 21st Album Reviews
Reviews include Gracie Abrams, Joni Mitchell, Billie Eilish, and more
Week three of Women’s History Month brings seven more albums by women and nb artists!
March 15th - The Secret of Us by Gracie Abrams
Rating - 9.1/10
Highlighted song - “I Love You, I’m Sorry”
Gracie Abrams is an artist who has been on my radar for quite some time now, but I don’t think I could’ve even named one song of hers. I just knew her name, and I knew that I was pretty intrigued by her SNL performance, but that was quite literally it. It’s honestly a wonder that it took me nearly four months to actually listen to the album she was promoting in her SNL performance, which, I would like to stress, I really liked. One of the songs she performed, in fact, is “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” which is a hell of a ballad. Truthfully, I was a little blown away by how much I enjoyed this entire album, even the duet featuring Taylor Swift (though I do like Taylor Swift to a degree, I was a bit taken aback by a ‘smaller’ artist like Gracie Abrams giving an artist like Taylor airtime on her album, but I digress). This is an album which has already swiftly moved its way into my regular rotation, and I’m really excited to explore the rest of her work.
March 16th - The Good Witch by Maisie Peters
Rating - 6.5/10
Highlighted song - “Body Better”
Maisie Peters is another artist who played All Things Go, though I didn’t see her set. I’ve been slowly making my way through the lineup of the festival, trying to listen to at least one album by each of the artists who played and with whom I wasn’t already familiar. Maisie Peters is one of those artists, and I was honestly pretty underwhelmed by this album. There are a few fun, upbeat, catchy tunes that caught my attention for sure, but overall I found this album to be a little boring and unoriginal. I’ll admit, given the rest of the lineup of All Things Go, I was expecting more of an alternative/indie sound, so it could be that I just had vastly different expectations of this album than what I got, but I’m not all that inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt; this album is just a typical pop album to me. There’s really nothing special about it.
March 17th - Good Day by Danielia Cotton
Rating - 8.9/10
Highlighted song - “A Different War”
I’ve been working part time at Guitar Center, and during the day, people will often bring in their used guitars to try to sell them. Danielia Cotton brought her guitar in one day, and they bought it, and when I got to work the next day, one of my coworkers was playing around on it. It was a GORGEOUS instrument, one of the nicer guitars I’ve ever gotten to hold. The person who sold it was none other than Danielia Cotton, so I looked her up and added the album with the most streams to my library to listen to the next day. It’s a wonder to me that more people haven’t discovered Danielia Cotton. The woman can sing, and she has that sort of classic rock sound (kinda reminds me of Pat Benatar and/or Joan Jett, funny enough) that you don’t really hear much of in more recent releases. “A Different War” is legitimately one of the best songs I’ve discovered from any of the albums I’ve listened to this year, as is the track “Follow Me,” and the title track, “Good Day.” This does, at times, feel a TAD dated as an album, and I really only mean a tad. It sounds almost out of place having been released in 2022, like it should’ve been released 20-30 years earlier at least. While that isn’t at all a bad thing, for whatever reason, I think it’s the only thing keeping me from rating it higher than I did.
March 18th - Blue by Joni Mitchell
Rating - 9.0/10
Highlighted song - “Carey”
Joni Mitchell is an artist that I’ve always had in the back of my mind as someone I should really devote the time to getting into but that I just never did. Not for any particular reason, just that there is so much music in the world and only so much time. Now that I’ve started to devote the time, though, specifically towards listening to music with which I’m not yet familiar, I’d run out of excuses. Two of her three top songs on Spotify were off of Blue, so I threw it on. A lot of the time I was listening, I was kind of waffling between loving this album and thinking it was just alright. I respect and appreciate Joni Mitchell’s talent as an artist, particularly in her vocal range. I think that’s also why the song “Carey” stuck out to me so much; she literally sings like three different octaves in one lyric (don’t check this if you have a music education background it’s probably not true but the hyperbole is very important here). This album is just a string of ten feel good tracks—even the slower ones with lyrics that aren’t exactly happy—that have a sort of inherent nostalgia to them. I don’t know why, but this album reminds me of the summers I spent at camp, probably the only time in my life that was truly unimpeded by the outside world. Blue invokes a sense of wonder and innocence almost, it’s hard to describe in words, but this is a special album no doubt.
March 19th - Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast
Rating - 7.6/10
Highlighted song - “Posing For Cars”
This album honestly didn’t do a ton for me. It didn’t really stick out in my mind, and after listening, I promptly forgot what most of it sounded like; a clear indicator that I don’t need to listen to it a second time, especially after having picked out the individual songs that I liked, of which there were three: “Be Sweet,” “Slide Tackle,” and “Posing For Cars.” “Posing For Cars” is a beautiful, truly ethereal track, and I want to emphasize that heavily. It does, however, carry a lot of the weight of the 7.6 rating of this album. I think Jubilee had the same effect on me as Maisie Peter’s The Good Witch, but leaving a slightly better taste in my mouth.
March 20th - HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish
Rating - 8.3/10
Highlighted song - “WILDFLOWER”
Admittedly, I’ve been kinda a hater when it comes to Billie Eilish. I never really understood the hype, never really thought she was anywhere near as talented as everyone else thought she was. Her breathiness always made me a little uncomfortable if I’m being honest, and I also didn’t really get the hype surrounding the actual music production. I now realize that that opinion was based almost entirely upon the songs “Bad Guy” and the track she released for the Barbie soundtrack. I listened to this album with an open mind, and I was impressed. I stand by the fact that her breathiness is weird and I still don’t get it, but it now comes from a place of understanding that she is a really fucking talented artist and I don’t understand why her more popular tracks aren’t the ones which truly showcase that talent. “WILDFLOWER” is an incredible track, and as a gay woman I am legally obligated to love “LUNCH.” “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” is also an earworm that I don’t mind chilling in my brain for awhile, but I think this is a really front loaded album. It pains me to say about a piece by an artist whose craft I respect, and I do respect her craft now after listening to this album, “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” is honestly a horrible song. There are a few duds towards the end of this album that definitely detract from the album’s overall greatness, but if anything came out of my listening to this album, it’s that I’m very willing to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong about Billie Eilish.
March 21st - Drop Cherries by Billie Marten
Rating - 8.7/10
Highlighted song - “Acid Tooth”
I didn’t have an album lined up for this day, nor did I really have any ideas, so I turned to one of the trusty Spotify curated playlists in my library and found Billie Marten. I’d never heard of her, but she was sandwiched comfortably in this playlist between Soccer Mommy and boygenius, who were my top artists of 2024 and 2023, respectively, so I figured she’d be a good find. Drop Cherries is a great album that really showcases Billie Marten’s vocal talent. She has a beautiful, lush voice, and coupled with the acoustic guitar backing, this album is a really nice breath of fresh air. It has since been downloaded, and added to the rotation of albums that lull me to sleep. This album reminds me a bit of Lucy Dacus’ solo work, in that it’s kind of a mix between soft listening acoustic and 2020s pop, just a bit more in the camp of the former given the fact that not many people know about Billie Marten. I think that’s a miss on behalf of the public though, because Billie Marten is an artist who certainly deserves to be known.