Lykke Li - So Sad So Sexy

Lykke Li
So Sad So Sexy
2018
Spotify

There was time a couple of years ago where nothing sounded more modern and sleek than trip hop. The combination of a slick female vocal and trap-ish beats created a lush musical environment. The beats felt deep and the singing just edgy enough to make pop and alternative fans alike rejoice. That idea however seems to have faded rather quickly, and left a few artists like Verite, Grace Mitchell and now Lykke Li somewhat behind. The ideas of this genre seemed to have dried up, because nothing on this record feels all that new or exciting. The pace rarely moves above a crawl, creating expansive, but boring tracks that Lykke's super high voice dances over. ON "Jaguars in the Air" she could not sound more basic telling people to put their "jaguars in the air" which means god knows what. It seems like something that just sounds good so she shoe horned it in. Rather than shifting from the hip hop style delivery Lykke Li doubles down on tracks like "sex money feelings die". She could not sound more out of touch or more basic on this song playing in area that she just doesn't belong in. It would be fine if she was taking some kind of risk or really stretching for something bold, but she isn't, she is just re-hashing the same old ideas that this genre has pumped out over and over again. Throughout the record you are desperate for something new, a change of pace, a topic shift, hell maybe even some great lyrics, but that never comes.

The album is graciously short, not really leaving a lasting impact one way or another. Yet a second listen will absolutely bore you to fucking death. Her voice almost reaches a grating point at some places, far to high and pitchy. Her writing on this record is steeped in pain, but it is so generic and vague it's almost too universal. You get nothing of Lykke Li in these lyrics just a bunch of generalities. The album is also missing one of the most essential elements of this kind of music, sexiness. It's so plain and generic you never find yourself enticed or titillated, instead it's just sort of the neutered group of blah songs. Even when she mentions sex like on "sex money feelings die" it is in the most boring way possible. This is one of those albums you have to listen to three times just to gleam any kind of meaning or idea, it comes across as so incredibly disposable. It was a struggle to get through this one, because I was just so uninterested from top to bottom. This record simply does not work.

2.0 out of 10