New York-based singer Julia Adrian’s latest single “Almost But Not Quite,” starts out slow but ramps up to a head-nod worthy exploration of compromise and self destruction. Distorted notes of electronic instrumentation greet listeners before Adrian delivers her first lines, “Know exactly how I’d do it / Know it’d work out just in time / If I got my way, I’d still want more / Is the end ever in sight?” over a soft guitar backing. The singer’s voice is whimsical, both Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter-eqsue at moments, and warms up and gains strength as the song chugs along.
The track’s chorus at first occurrence sounds almost unfinished, but with each return of the refrain, drums and guitar round it out to give it more body. The bridge does a brisk 180-flip and slows things down before returning to the mid-tempo pace of the track before an electric guitar outro delivers a series of chords not all that dissimilar from the aforementioned Rodrigo’s song “brutal.” Adrian follows the road paved by the likes of today’s current pop-rock leader Rodrigo without slipping into the pattern too closely. The singer delivers a final, quiet chuckle to herself as she closes the track out, a sonic smirk as to tease what’s to come next from the budding artist.
You can listen to “Almost But Not Quite” on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.
