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After fearlessly dropping her record label and going independent after her debut self-titled 2020 EP, Almondmilkhunni has truly hit the sweet spot in creating a conceptual project that's the perfect balance of fun and introspective with ENJOY THE RIDE.
Stand-out tracks: "liar""ANXIETY"
My favorites: "fake deep" "playlist"
This 11-track project starts with "intro" that blends seamlessly into "fake deep," with the former being a spacey instrumental with distorted spoken vocals seeming to set up the story of creating ENJOY THE RIDE, including "Should I just start?" and "Basically I completely forgot who I was." The instrumentals fade flawlessly into my personal favorite"fake deep," which finds Almondmilkhunni asking "Don't you wanna be real for once in your life?" backed by one of the best boppy and catchy instrumental productions on the album.
"liar" takes Almondmilkhunni's natural cool and collected vocals and gives them an air of flippancy towards someone who has repeatedly been untrustworthy-- as she puts it herself, she's clearly "getting so damn tired of you." "MISS U" has a little bit of a 2000s pop vibe with electronic mixing, twinkly production, and the repeated sincere-but-girly "I get lost with you and I can't help that I miss you." "BODYBAG" is probably the most ruthless track on ENJOY THE RIDE, with its addictive trappy production and fully-fleshed out comparisons of a toxic relationship to a crime scene-- the details in this one really make the cheating-to-crime metaphor work seamlessly.
"ANXIETY" is the track on ENJOY THE RIDE that, in my opinion, deserves to be her breakout hit. It hits all the right notes in illustrating how anxiety really feels with the back and forth of "Is it you? Is it me? Or is it my anxiety?" followed by "I don't know/I think it's me/Or maybe my anxiety." The production is just the right balance of fun and chaotic to make it a track that's incredibly easy to repeat over and over.
The back-to-back of "IF I DIE" and "COMA" are intensely opposite in terms of lyrical content but they pair together beautifully in terms of production. "IF I DIE" illustrates deep-felt emotions in moments of passionate connection with someone, while "COMA" illustrates the need to just get away from it all sometimes.
Ending ENJOY THE RIDE with "playlist" is the perfect way to culminate the album; it almost seems to lyrically reference each track on the album individually throughout the song. And the chorus thrums with "I made a playlist/of songs that I hated/now I kind of crave/cause it reminds me of you," beautifully signing off the album with the perfect combination of humility and ambition.
ENJOY THE RIDE is all about the highs and lows of growing pains, and it hits just the right balance of satisfaction and leaving the listener wanting more. Almondmilkhunni has started to hit her stride as an artist and her first independent album just leaves you waiting to see what she does next.
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