鈥淒irt Femme,鈥� Tove Lo (Pretty Swede Records)
Femininity is all-encompassing, it's malleable and flesh deep.
In Tove Lo's fifth studio album, 鈥淒irt Femme" 鈥� the first under her own independent label 鈥� the Swedish singer-songwriter and producer profoundly understands the female experience can be painful, messy and iridescent. Tove Lo rejects the confined cage of femininity and gets dirty.
In "Dirt Femme," Tove Lo is able to analyze her marriage and rejects the traditional nuclear family in 鈥淪uburbia,鈥� singing "I can鈥檛 be no Stepford wife.鈥� She explores an eating disorder that plagued her teenage years in 鈥淕rapefruit鈥� 鈥� the purposefully sweltering beats makes this song a deniable club banger 鈥� and self-hatred and self-sabotage in 鈥淚'm to Blame,鈥� her most candid song yet.
Lead single 鈥淣o One Dies from Love鈥� documents how Tove Lo's interpretation of femininity means showing the vulnerability of heartbreak as she sings against heavy '80s-inspired synth, 鈥淣o one dies from love/Guess I鈥檒l be the first. Will you remember us?/Or are the memories too stained with blood now?鈥� Her second single, 鈥�2 Die 4鈥� samples 鈥淧opcorn鈥� by Gershon Kingsley in a shimmering, fatal love song that screams camp.
Other album standouts include "Call on Me" and 鈥淧ineapple Slice," produced by British EDM artist SG Lewis. The songs take the listener into a disco rave curated by two juggernauts of the now mainstream genre.
Tove Lo ponders the question, 鈥淎fter the pain is there more?鈥� She confidently answers it through a sharply written and a sonically creative career-defining album. She shatters the pristine image of femininity shoved down her throat as woman. She is an artist 鈥� and now a independent label owner 鈥� while simultaneously dancing on a club dancefloor.
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Nardos Haile, The Associated Press
