Despite touring with the ultimate pop girl, Taylor Swift, and being signed to Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man label, Maisie Peters remained the “if you know you know” of up-and-coming pop girls. After the release of her sophomore album, ‘The Good Witch’, Peters showed that her singer-songwriter prowess also translated to the big stages: her performances on those tours solidified her artistry and turned listeners into active fans. However, this third studio album, ‘Florescence’, feels different. Whilst ‘The Good Witch’ faced faster tempos, synths and polished pop production, this latest project seems more stripped back, mainly relying on guitar and strings, perhaps hinting that this album faces a more vulnerable side to her that we haven’t seen before.
The record opens with ‘Mary Janes’, a song doused in the female experience. With the line, “I’m not the coolest or the greatest in the club”, Peters immediately introduces a sense of comparison, before developing it into an exploration of her insecurity as the track goes on. She cleverly uses Mary Jane shoes as a metaphor for the ‘ideal’ woman: she’s measuring herself up to the “angel in the perfume ad” with “straight teeth”. Yet, the track deepens into the sweet understanding that finding one person who sees you is more than enough (“they’ll ask me if I’m special, I’ll say just to you… because I’m healthy, I am yours and that’s enough”). This theme of self-doubt has become increasingly prominent in female pop, displaying similar feelings found on Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Pretty Isn’t Pretty’ and ‘Opposite’ by Sabrina Carpenter.
With the second track, ‘Audrey Hepburn’, the simple guitar picking offers a look into the musical direction of the album. This instrumentation, alongside the vulnerability of the lyrics, feels beautifully bare-boned - as if she were revealing what life has been like since her last release - a contrast to ‘Say My Name In Your Sleep’ which follows the same folk influence, but does so through reverbed guitar and soft percussion. This creates a spacious atmosphere in the track, as though leaving room for reflection. The record doesn’t just boast these folk sensibilities sonically, but also through its linear storytelling on ‘Old Fashioned’, which details a date between a man and woman. The lyrics, “in a jazz club with a girl who blinks, tell her you never really do this and you only drink old fashioned”, make the track feel more like a play acting out in real time.
‘Flat Earther’ takes on a sombre soundscape driven by slow tempo and feelings of blinded love; the line “down rabbit holes, my faith unstoppable, trying to make a man out of you, impossible”, showcases how Peters’ love has distorted her reality by making her believe her partner was someone he was not. It starts with minimal instrumentation before building to a dramatic climax, which perhaps mirrors her breaking out of this delusion.
Towards the end of the project, she seamlessly transitions into a country-heavy sound, particularly in tracks like ‘Vampire Time’ and ‘My Regards’, which see her vocals upfront and centre with a fast, rhythmic cadence. This country-pop fluidity feels entirely natural alongside features from Julia Michaels, whose contributions to ‘Kingmaker’ result in some of the best lyricism on the record. Lines like, “guess I walked so you could run all the way from me / now you say you’re self-made guess your memory’s fuzzy” are steeped in irony - making the track both engaging and comedic.
Whilst songwriting is a focal part of country music, so is vocal cadence - a dynamic that indie-folk artist Marcus Mumford displays on ‘If You Let Me’. The dark timbre of his voice adds a grounding feel to the melody, cutting through the metallic guitar lines; when paired with Peters’ breathy vocals, they elevate the song, providing a dual perspective on love through their call-and-response.
‘Nothing Like Being In Love’ adds beautiful closure to the album through its melancholy piano. This arrangement creates a lovely bedrock for the soft trills of Peters voice, while the violins support her to add emotional momentum; this is anchored by the line, “but time was done with us, and I know now, what we had was nothing like being in love”, which provides an air of understanding to the song - as though she is happy with her new and healthier definition of love, one that is more nurturing rather than stifling.
Despite the departure from the pop-heavy sound of her last album, ‘Florescence’ follows indie and country influences to provide a record laced with the vulnerability of love lost. Ultimately, It serves as a reminder to hold out for the genuine companionship found in the project’s latter half - and to maintain patience in the midst of it all.
Jessica Sansoa
Image: ‘Florescence’ Official Album Cover
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