Okay, I mentioned Zella once before in this post and that very day I walked ten blocks in the rain to buy her album (she RT’d my tweet about it, ahhh!) and I don’t regret it. Zella day’s Indie-Pop sort of album is incredibly catchy and wonderful and so, here is my track-by-track review!
1. Jerome 10/10
Her voice sounds so angelic but haunting, this song definitely gives me Lana Del Rey vibes but with a much better twist. It’s very catchy. I’m surprised she made such a pretty and emotional ballad with a guy’s name–I dig it. I feel like most songs with actual names as the title are female names (ie: Stella – All Time Low, Annabelle – A Rock to the Moon) so this was a pleasant surprise. It’s such an upbeat but haunting ballad about a love that didn’t treat her well and I love it!
FAVE LYRIC: “He was a quiet man / With blood stains on his hands”
2. High 5/10
Not a huge fan of this, it just bores me a little bit. It’s just one of those forgettable tracks that nearly every album has, this is the one that I’ll skip to get to my favorites.
FAVE LYRIC: No lyrics stand out to me.
3. Ace of Hearts 3/10
Not a fan of the loud and overly electric sort of beat. Her voice kind of falls to the background of the beat. The music is truly unpleasant. It doesn’t match the words and it’s just too much, this doesn’t even go with the album. This is defintely my least favorite track
FAVE LYRIC: “What you’re afraid of / Is where I just came from”
4. 1965 9/10
I love this song so much–to me it’s about wanting to go back to the good times with a lost love and it’s beautifully relatable. Her voice towards the end gets so beautifully rough and emotional and I love it, the way she sings “with a love so sweet it makes me sad” at around 3:02 towards the end is my absolute favorite thing.
FAVE LYRIC: “I never had nobody touch me like I’m glass / You had me spinnin’ in the midnight summer grass”
5. East of Eden 9/10
I love the light bubbly vibe that turns into this powerful Imagine Dragons-y intense dark beat for the chorus. The lyrics don’t make much sense (at least not to me) but they sound cool and eerie.
FAVE LYRICS: “Call me wild, drinking up the sunshine / Be my man and show me what it feels like”
6. Hypnotic 9/10
This song has a lot of funky Cleopatra vibes, it’s quite a jam. I really like this song, it’s very catchy! I feel like this is the kind of song that would be dramatically sung in an empty theatre or something, it has that eerie cool vibe.
FAVE LYRIC: “Magnetic everything about you / You really got me now”
7. Mustang Kids (ft. Baby E) 8/10
I actually love Baby E’s rap part, it’s so catchy. I can’t tell if Baby E is a male or female, though, they have a pleasantly androgynous voice. This is a great song to blast in the desert in a convertible while you drink cans of beer and wear funky sunglasses.
FAVE LYRIC: “We got guns, got drugs, got the sun and the moon / We got big city plans but it always rains”
8. The Outlaw Josey Wales 6/10
This had a weird electric mariachi band vibe, I can’t say it was my favorite. This made me Google Josey Wales (yes, he’s an actual outlaw), maybe everyone knows who he is? I didn’t. I’m not a fan of the chorus part with “Josey Wales”, it doesn’t flow too well, but I quite like the rest of the song.
FAVE LYRIC: “There’s nothing, to hold you down / It’s like no one knows where you came from”
9. Jameson 5/10
Definitely a softer acoustic tune–I was surprised it had simple guitar! She sounds very Sheryl Crow mixed with Lana Del Rey, it’s oddly lovely…This is definitely the most shocking track on the album, it’s just so raw. It’s about a place or person or something called “Jameson” that’s keeping her love away from her even though she needs him.
FAVE LYRIC: “You’re a quiet man but in the worst way / I’m not a follower and I won’t follow you down”
10. Shadow Preachers 8/10
I like this song a lot. The beginning is my favorite part and I enjoy most of the song but the chorus is actually my least favorite part. It has this pretty vibe that seems to portray what a relationship is like when one person keeps fighting to keep it and the other is long gone. Beautifully done!
FAVE LYRIC: “If I stop trying / we start dying”
11. Sweet Ophelia 9/10
Despite its simple lyrics, this song is such a jam. This is the song that gets stuck in your head for days and days, it’s SO CATCHY! Once that chorus starts you can’t help but bob your head and whip your hair around and dance. It’s about a young girl who got corrupted or lost her innocence too soon.
FAVE LYRIC: Honestly? This song is one of the most lyrically weak ones on the album in my opinion, none of the lyrics stood out to me.
12. Compass 10/10
I love this track! Definitely one of my favorites. It’s so laid back and relaxed but the lyrics are incredibly pretty–I love how her voice is truly the focal point of this track. The instruments are very simple and it compliments her voice very well!
FAVE LYRIC: “Take me to the garden of your ecstasy / Make myself a heaven from your falling leaves
Overall
This album is electrically haunting, I’m very impressed! A few songs are sort of duds to me, but she made up for them with amazing ballads or absolute jams. The fact that she also writes her own songs is incredibly impressive–singer-songwriters are my weakness! The whole album has quite a cohesive sound (minus Jameson) and it tells a whole story. Zella Day is definitely an artist to look out for.
I bet this would sound amazing live, unfortunately her NYC concert is only 21+.I thought once I turned 18 the world would totally be my oyster and I would be able to get into everything. Nope. Did you know Webster Hall literally even has 19+ concerts (?!?!?!?). Hmph.
Have you listened to Kicker yet? Which track is your favorite?
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