Tessa Violet’s debut album “Bad Ideas” has some stiff competition for the title of my favorite album of 2019, but it’s by far the most satisfying. I’ve been a devout Tessa stan ever since the release of the album’s first single, “Crush”, last June, eagerly participating in all her Twitter scavenger hunts for tour info, new singles, and the album announcement, and I got the chance to see her open for COIN back in February. (I’m still a little mad that we weren’t in the same city at the same time during her tour this summer, though.)
“Bad Ideas” is, in short, a case study in delayed gratification. It’s emotional, authentic, and nothing short of a powerhouse as far as production and lyrics are concerned. The album also showcases many of Violet’s many artistic inspirations–including Paramore, Lorde, and Taylor Swift–and combines all of them with her unique voice to create a standout listening experience from start to finish.
“Prelude” is a short and simple guitar track that introduces the album’s theme of insecurities and lost love with a soft vocal filter that returns in a few more tracks later on. The transition at the end of the song leading into “Crush” is exciting, with a fast increase in pitch and tempo that cuts itself off just in time for “Crush”’s iconic opening “Uh, alright”, which I’ve been listening to on repeat for more than a year now, and putting it in context works perfectly.
Photo courtesy of T∆G MUSIC
“Crush” is one of those songs that never gets old no matter how many times you listen to it. The song’s many quirks give it a one-of-a-kind charm, from the little vocal “mm-hm”’s and “uh-huh”’s to the synth scratches to the little sound effects here and there to “it’s what I was born to do!”. It’s the album’s lightest and pop-piest track by far, and as a single, it’s quirky and fun. As a piece of the album… we’ll get to that.
“Bad Ideas,” the album’s second track and its second single, keeps the innocent vibe of “Crush” but gives it a slower tempo, vintage filters, and a more subdued feel. The song still has its fun moments, though, both in the synth choices and the “yikes!” at the end of the bridge, and it’s probably my favorite one to sing along to on the whole album.
I first heard “I Like (the idea of) You” live before it was even released as a single, and this is where the album starts to take a darker turn from innocuous and naive love songs into hints of heartbreak. Gone are the playful synths and vocal moments, now replaced by a driving beat and a dynamic bassline, and Violet’s voice blends both styles perfectly.
“Games” was the fourth last single released before the album’s release, and it has the distinct honor of being my roommate’s favorite of the four. As soon as the first line of the song hits (“I don’t want a piece of that, ‘cause I know there’s no peace in that”), the ambiguity of the last three tracks is gone, and despite being more upbeat than its predecessor, it’s distinctly more melancholy, too. Still, the last chorus is powerful, more powerful than anything else I heard on the album, especially what’s to come.
“Feelin” is a song that isn’t afraid of silence. Between Violet’s voice, the bassline, and the drums in the first verse, there are a lot of beats where there’s just nothing. And even though the song has hints of the electronic quirks of “Crush” and “Bad Ideas”, it’s more of an echo than anything, both a well-crafted callback and a somber stage for the rest of the album.
In the song “Hallelujah California”, Luna Shadows sings that “the saddest songs are in major keys”, and nowhere is that truer than in “Words Ain’t Enough”. This is the point in the album where I thought “How am I supposed to review this?”. It’s stripped of the dance-worthy beats and basslines of the tracks before it, and more importantly, it’s intensely personal. Violet’s lyrical prowess shines in this song, but it almost feels disingenuous to say so, because it almost seems to play into the “great art comes from trauma” narrative, which is more than a little problematic. Still, this is one of the most emotional and real tracks on an album that’s full of emotional and real tracks, and it strikes a deep chord that few other songs have.
“Words Ain’t Enough” is immediately followed by “Bored”, a complete flip-flop in terms of instrumentation and tone, underscored by horns and a marching-band-Esque percussion section. But to me, this track has a distinct feel of acting like everything’s okay when it’s not, and the instrumentals intentionally overcompensate for the lyrics. It’s less about being bored, and more about not feeling like you have a purpose, and it’s because I resonate with that sentiment so deeply that “Bored” is one of my favorite tracks on the album.
“Wishful Drinking” has my favorite instrumental on the album, and like “Feelin”, it isn’t afraid of taking pause. The song’s lyrics deal with the problem of using alcohol to cope with your problems (but Violet sings at the beginning of the bridge that “This is not a problem if I don’t want it to stop”), and I consider this the lowest emotional point of the story that the album tells, even though it doesn’t feel like it.
“Honest” is the hardest song for me to talk about, because it’s another song that I really relate to; its themes of trying to please others in an attempt to fill up an empty space inside yourself hits extremely close to home. It brings back the vocal filters and effects from earlier tracks, but those don’t mask the emotions front and center in the lyrics like “Bored” does. Its production is just as honest as the song itself, which is about being honest with yourself and realizing that you’re not going to be okay all the time, and that’s okay.
“Interlude III” is the final track on the album, and like “Prelude”, it’s a simple track with regards to instrumentation, with just Violet’s voice and an acoustic guitar, both heavily filtered. It’s about cutting someone out of your life, a decision that’s ultimately for the better, but the aftermath means that you’re alone and that you can’t trust people as you did before, something that I’ve had to grapple with recently as well. My favorite part about the song, though, is that it doesn’t have a definite ending. It ends on the right chord, but it ends too quickly to really be over. And if anything, that gives me a lot of anticipation for whatever Tessa Violet does next.
https://open.spotify.com/album/22Q7rFTYQyqwcgmpNJbjrP