Review Summary: This is Underscores’ main pop girl moment.
Everything feels so expertly crafted. Simple-on-the-surface ~3 minute pop songs feel like they could’ve taken 3 years to create, thanks to the intricate and creative melodies and instrumentation. But, at the same time, the hooks are so instantly catchy they feel like they could’ve been thought up in 3 seconds by April Harper Grey’s virtuosic pop brain. The “pop, rock, electronic, rap, rock n’ roll” bridge on “Music” and repetition of the title on “Tell Me (U Want It)” are just two examples of the toffee-apple stickiness that binds all 9 tracks on
U together. In a just world, these would be #1 hits.
But if you’re worried Underscores has abandoned her musical eclecticism in search of pop greatness, you need not fear. “The Peace” is her ode to Imogen Heap, where she modulates an a cappella vocal pattern into a choral synth motif with which she gorgeously harmonises while bargaining with a lover. The track’s hook contains the genius lyric “I don’t speak unless I’m spoken to / and I don’t smoke unless you’re smoking too” that I’m sure Addison Rae and Charli XCX wish they thought of first.
At 34 minutes,
U is very short but incredibly sweet, and perfectly balances both straightforward pop sensibility with complex electronic world-building. You’re left craving more, and perhaps the only knock on the album is that it ends just as you buy all in to April’s chaotic, vibrant universe (which the cover visualises perfectly). The flip-side is that there is no filler, with all 9 tracks hitting hard and not overstaying their welcome – Underscores knows how to tease and lure you in like a true pop siren.
It’s impressive that in a few short years she’s gone from the next 100 Gecs to the next Britney, with
U feeling as exciting and transformational to the shape of pop music as
Blackout did almost 20 years ago. One of April’s Easter eggs is that she repeats a producer tag each album, with
Wallsocket having “good luck!” and
U’s being “I O U”. With her current trajectory, I think her next album’s should be “it’s Underscores bitch”.
