Recommended Tracks: “delusional,” “misunderstood,” “bubblebath”
Artists You Might Like: Gracie Abrams, Alessi Rose, Conan Gray
A lover girl leads with an open heart, susceptible to all things pining, romance, and pain. Lexi Jayde’s debut album, LOVER GIRL, is a time capsule for women in their early 20s. Across the brooding pop tracks, Jayde captures what it’s like for young women navigating modern romance.
“Is this forever, or does it get better than this? / Your twenties are supposed to be fun, so why can’t I just / Let it go, let it slide / Enjoy my youth ‘fore it dies?” Jayde sings on “bubblebath,” anchoring the album’s theme of pushing through painful moments to enjoy the present. A mix of ballads and catchy pop tracks layer exposed songwriting and strummed guitar, detailing the 24-year-old’s canon events through falling in love and heartbreak.
The introductory track, “sorry for you,” picks up on opposing ends of her previous EP, closer to closure, where four years ago, Jayde belted about not being able to get over someone. In her most-streamed song, “drunk text me,” Jayde hoped for an ex to message her in a drunken stupor, with walls down enough to admit they still loved her. As Jayde opens up LOVER GIRL, though, time and maturity have allowed her to move on and, instead, feel sorry for someone who moves through life hurting people and staying left on their own.
Snappy, memorable choruses come in “delusional” and “you’re still mine.” Jayde’s perky voice jumps over pulsating guitar. In “delusional,” she admits that she’d rather live in hope than turn down possibilities right away. She envisions a romantic connection working out, knowing that she lets her mind run with fantasies. The last verse, though, shows the crack in her armor as she sings, “It’s my, oh, my fault / I got my hopes up way too high / Smile while the tears fall from my eyes / I don’t want to hurt again.”
In “such a bitch!,” Jayde leans into witty pop sounds. Her reedy voice interjects her layered vocals as she jokes about having moved on. She deserves the right to be rude, she sings, because of how horribly a person treated her.
The rest of the album is more crestfallen, moving through introspective tracks and pained belting. The waltzy ballad “misunderstood” is a sister track to Chappell Roan’s “Casual.” Jayde’s shared details of a past relationship illustrate the idiom “give someone an inch, and they’ll take a mile.” She soulfully sings about how an ex said things they didn’t mean as piano and drums come crashing down with her anger.
Standing out from the romance storyline is “jeans,” which highlights Jayde’s ability to write openly. Through a jivey, comforting guitar, she sings about body image issues that she’s dealt with from a young age. She wishes to love herself as she is, relating to her young female audience.
Cinematic piano and strings pull the album to the end in “i feel it all.” Jayde lowers her guard, flashing back to four years ago when she went through a breakup. The closer contradicts the confidence she starts the album with, showing how the the cycle of heartbreak continues. She repeats the track’s title over a solemn chorus, showing her heart is open to the possibility of more pain.
Across her debut album, Jayde beautifully captures moving through life with hope and the power to see through dark times. LOVER GIRL proves that even when you’re feeling hurt, there’s always a chance to start over.
