Two years after the last Boygenius release and four after her latest solo album, Lucy Dacus is the first member of the supergroup to announce a solo album, Forever Is A Feeling. In their previous projects, the 3-time-Emmy-winner group brought rebellion back to the stages along with a liberating portrayal of female friendship.
Dacus’ latest album Home Video told us about her childhood, going to bible study camps and discovering her sexuality. But, in her new work, which gets released this friday, March 28th, she brings a more mature discussion about what love is. “All love feels new and one of a kind, and it is,” she said to The New Yorker, “But also it’s the most ancient feeling.”
The forthcoming release is characterized by the dispute between the lushness of the album and the frankness of the lyrics. Dacus said in the press announcement that she was impacted with heavy emotions, she also stated that “Falling in love, falling out of love… You have to destroy things in order to create things. And I did destroy a really beautiful life.” The singer added that the album was partly about the idea of “coming to terms with change—of knowing that things aren’t forever.”
Lucy has an affectionate way of singing, which adds to the intimacy of her lyrics. And this album couldn’t be any different. “For Keeps”, the album’s seventh track, is said to translate the idea of falling in love with someone who is ultimately unavailable to you. The song will be carried with an acoustic guitar and a very vulnerable voice, starting with a sharp intake of breath and a hint of a tremble in her tone. “Whenever you love anything a lot, you’re booked for grief”, the singer explains to The New Yorker.
On “Talk”, one of the pre-released singles, Dacus brings back some of the heaviness notable on past tracks like “Night Shift” (Historian, 2018). She asks in nostalgia: “Why can’t we talk anymore? / We used to talk for hours”. In this song, the artist unpacks a relationship which no longer has a future, just a memory of the love that used to exist.
“Best Guess”, another pre-release, is another story. It completely changes the road of a painful love that we’re all familiar with. The song is a joyful representation of queer love. It’s also the first love song in which Dacus uses feminine pronouns to refer to her lover.
“It’s been interesting, because I want to protect what is precious in my life, but also to be honest, and make art that’s true”, stated. The music video for this single gave us something to talk about: Lucy actually went to social media hunting for “hot mascs” (or anyone who can pretend to be one). Cara Delevingne, Towa Bird, Naomi McPherson are some of the people who can be seen in the video
“Ankles”, one of the first pre-releases for the long-awaited album, recently became her first Top 10 Radio Hit as a solo artist. In its music video, we follow a pompous figure through the streets of France, being cared for by the actress Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms, 2023).
This imagery evokes the cover art of Forever Is a Feeling, which features an oil painting of Lucy, done by the artist Will St. John, who is known for his portraits of drag queens and antique porcelain dolls. The singer is represented with only a golden cloth, as if she was a muse like we see in the museums, just like in the video.
Summing it up, Forever Is A Feeling it’s set to bring very different visions and feelings about love to the discussion. The album already is a more mature and sincere project from Lucy Dacus, where we are able to visualize the eternity of many relationships that came to an end. It also is coming out along with the confirmation of the relationship between Dacus and her group co-member Julien Baker, marking it as a new era in Lucy’s career, a more transparent one.
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O artigo acima foi editado por Clara Rocha.
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