MUNA - Saves the World

MUNA
Saves the World
2019
Spotify

MUNA's success is something that has really frustrated me. In them I see a band that is extremely tight, inventive and represent a wildly underrepresented group in the LGBTQ+ community. So what's the problem? The problem is other artists have co opted MUNA's message as their own and rode that wave into stardom. Yet, here are MUNA still making the music that represents them, and a different way of approaching this genre. Electropop has been a bit out of ideas for the past couple of years. It felt like we'd scratched every surface possible of the style as the 80s sounds came and went out of fashion. MUNA though, employ those same sounds, but in a new and different way. Three badasses singing songs about self acceptance and a type of connection that is not often celebrated in mainstream music. Someone like Hayley Kiyoko will be wildly celebrated for her super generic music, just because she is doing what MUNA are doing on a mainstream level. MUNA's first record was filled with a new kind of love song, one not told from the traditional binary, but that still allowed real unfettered love to exist. They spoke of simple dates and seeing someone across the room, but those people didn't need to be boys or girls, they could just be themselves. That extends to this album as well with tracks like "Number One Fan" trying to flip the script on the normal negativie thoughts we have about ourselves on the daily, and instead try some radical self love. Be your own "Number On Fan" because no one else is going to do it for you.

"Navy Blue" is about how it all falls apart after a breakup, but then doing the small self love things to keep yourself above water. What MUNA do so well is take on these really complex, really internal, emotions and turn them into pop songs. This means that often their words might not be the catchiest ever, but they are speaking truth through their words. They do at some points on Saves the World suffer from some of the typical sophomore slump tendencies like big a bit too long and forgetting that you still need that big punch of a song. "Never" eventually becomes that tune, but it takes forever for the big drums to finally engage. In the end however Saves the World is still an absolutely stellar album from an even better band. I can't wait to hear what they do next.

8.2 out of 10