ICYMI is EDEN’s third and shortest album. While the album touches on topics found throughout EDEN’s entire discography, ICYMI is the first album that is composed almost entirely of breakup songs. The album follows stylistic trends that are characteristic of EDEN’s music (namely, the electronic beats, layering harmonies, occasional distortion over his voice, etc), but it feels different than his previous works. Compared to the album before it (no future), ICYMI feels like a collection of singles rather than one cohesive album. It may seem contradictory, but the songs are so similar that they feel separate. In EDEN’s first studio album, vertigo, although there was variation from song to song, the album generally highlighted his vocals. In no future, he experimented more with interesting beats that worked well with his voice and made his style more concrete. In ICYMI, he did more experimenting, but did it pay off?
The Call
The album opens with “The Call” which is less of a song and more like spoken word poetry. In an interview with District Magazine, EDEN explains that “The Call” is a collection of stories from his childhood, adolescence, and early twenties stitched together. While well written, it feels strange to open the album with a two-minute-long poem. Upon hearing it for the first time, I found myself uninterested, which I thought was a disappointing start to the album. I think “The Call” would have made more sense later in the album. Being at the beginning makes it forgettable after listening to the rest of the album all the way through. Sadly, “The Call” is the first EDEN track that I can say I’m not a fan of.
Balling
Next up is “Balling” which is the first of the singles to appear on the album. In the same interview with District Magazine, EDEN explains that “Balling” is written from the perspective of his 19-year-old self with some more recent memories littered throughout. The track fits well with the theme of the album. He reminisces good memories with people that are no longer in his life. It’s bittersweet and full of longing. In the chorus he sings, “Slowly friends turn to places, I can’t be everywhere at once / Slowly friends turn to places, now it’s just a one-way convo.” As he grew up, his old friends became synonymous with the places he knew them from and those connections faded as he moved away to pursue his dream. In any attempt to reconnect, everything is one-sided. While his friends have moved on, he still yearns to be back with them. The album as a whole is almost like a heartbroken letter to all those people he misses. I feel fairly lukewarm to “Balling.” I think the song is good, and some of the lyrics hit really hard, but it’s not my favorite.
Sci-Fi
“Sci-Fi” is the next single from ICYMI. Similar to the other songs on the album, “Sci-Fi” is an upbeat song with sadder lyrics. The song tells the story of the conflict with a past partner. He loves her and wants her to stay with him, but she’s more in love with the idea of him. In the chorus, he sings, “I don’t really wanna break your heart when it’s open / Like finding out love’s not a feeling / it’s a choice.” She expects love to come easily, but he tries to explain that loving someone is a conscious choice that both partners have to make. Her fantasy of him is further emphasized in the second verse: “You want me to tell you / I always hated dancing / But I would dance with you. / Oh, and I can see right through you, babe / Know you’d love me if I told you / That I’m in love with you.” She expects him to be her ‘dream boy’ where he would do sweet things with her like dancing despite the fact he takes it. He knows that she isn’t actually there for him as a person, and rather for the person she wants him to be. Her disingenuous feelings for him are clear, and he knows she would lie and say she loved him only if he were to say it first. I really like “Sci-Fi.” Lyrically, it feels like a song off of his i think you think too much of me EP, which I really love.
Modern warfare
“Modern Warfare” is the third and final single. I think it was an interesting choice to put all three singles at the beginning of the album successively. The song is about the blurred lines between real life and life online. The song is riddled with references to Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare from which the song got its name. For example, EDEN explains he is “dodging all these airstrikes” which is a reference to the game, while also representing the problems he’s been having in his real life. He also directs his attention to someone in the song, perhaps a partner or someone he met online. He says, “You don’t give a f*ck since / Distance turned to oceans (I can’t find my phone).” He expresses that the other person only cares about him when they are together, either physically or online. And in arguments, potentially about the distance in their relationship they “weaponize the timeline.” They bring past experiences as ammo in arguments, perhaps to justify their lack of care for him as he deals with “airstrikes” in his personal life. I love the references in “Modern Warfare.” I think the use of imagery from the game to talk about the struggles within a relationship is really unique and creative on his part.
Waiting Room
The next song on ICYMI is called “Waiting Room” and it feels like a transition song between the singles and the rest of the album. It features a long instrumental at the beginning and is broken into three parts, which is characteristic of other transition songs in EDEN’s albums (like “Interlude” from End Credits). Once he starts singing, the backing track changes to strings while his voice contrasts with heavy auto-tune. As the song moves into the third section, both his voice and the instrumental become distorted and lower in pitch. In the third section he repeats, “I don’t wanna get stuck in my ways / Haven’t seen the stars in so long.” The song is about being consumed by what he sees online. He compares being on his phone to “Pandora’s box” as he gets trapped in a cycle of reading negative things online. He doesn’t want to be consumed by all of the opinions people have about him and his music on the internet because he knows the harm it does to his relationships and his own health. The title is very fitting for the theme of the song. He feels as though he’s in an in-between space like a waiting room before he can get better. He recognized that the way he had been living his life up until this point has been harmful and he is now on the path to fixing it, but it takes time.
Closer 2
Next is “Closer 2” which is an upbeat song despite the somber lyrics. He tried to make himself feel better by reciting a mantra: “Proud of my tears, proud to be alone / proud of my highs, proud of my lows.” He later contradicts himself when addressing the subject of the song: “I know you think of me sometimes / I hope he treats you like you always wanted / … / I cannot think ahead, you’re always on my mind.” Perhaps the subject of this track is the same as in “Sci-Fi.” She wanted things from him that didn’t come naturally to him because she was in love with a fantasy version of him. He hopes her new partner does the things she always wanted him to do. Despite knowing she’s moved on, he still loves her and can’t stop thinking about her. I really like the instrumentals in “Closer 2.” I think it’s interesting how the melody interacts with the instrumental almost in a playful way, especially in the chorus and post-chorus.
PS1
The rest of the album has some of the best songs, “PS1” being one of them. This track has a similar feeling to some of the songs off of his no future album. It’s a chill song despite the complexity of the backing track and his layering harmonies. “PS1” captures the theme of the album really well. He is caught up on the people he’s lost in his past either as a by-product of his growing success or due to other life events. He can’t get the subject of the song out of his mind and even though he says he doesn’t “wanna be in love / don’t wanna be in love no more” he is unable to get over her, or maybe he’s simply unwilling to get over her. Like in “Sci-Fi,” he knows she’s not good for him, expressing, “You see what you wanna see.” She sees the version of him that she wants him to be, and since he was unable to be that person, their relationship ended. He is still caught up on her, though, considering the majority of the album seems to be focused on this relationship.
call me back
Upon my initial time listening to ICYMI, “Call Me Back” was an instant favorite. It is the first of the slower songs on the album and follows the format that is characteristic of EDEN’s older music: simple backing instrumentals, clear vocals, layering harmonies, and distortion on lines at the end of the verses. In this song, he seems to be coming to terms that no matter how much he misses his past relationship, he needs to move on: “Though it’s over now / In my dreams you call me back / But I hope you don’t.” He also expresses that this realization leaves him feeling lost as if his ex “took everything [he] loved” leaving him alone. He repeats the line “Now nowhere feels like home,” which ties back a single he released in 2018 titled “nowhere else.” In “nowhere else” he talks about a relationship in which he was like the subject of the songs off of ICYMI. He was the one who was looking for things from his partner that she was unable or unwilling to give to him: “I guess it’s on me I want more than I got / But I can’t ask you for the things you don’t feel.” The difference is, in “nowhere else” EDEN expresses that he will stay with the person because he has “nothing to lose” and “nowhere else” to go. He was unwilling to let go of the relationship, hoping that things would change and she would love him the way he wanted to be loved. But in ICYMI, despite him giving her love the best he could, it wasn’t what she wanted from him, resulting in the end of the relationship.
duvidha
EDEN tends to include at least one shorter, transition song in his albums. While “Waiting Room” served as a transition between the singles and the rest of the album, “Duvidha” is an interlude similar to “and” off of his EP, i think you think too much of me. Both songs rely heavily on EDEN’s stunning vocals and when comparing the two, EDEN’s growth as an artist is evident. I think “Duvhida” is a gorgeous song and I fell in love with it the same way I did with “and” upon first listen.
Elsewhere
“Elsewhere” was initially my favorite song on the album until I got to the end, but it holds a close second. It opens with one of my favorite EDEN lines: “Touch myself for some dopamine / What a f*cking loser.” He also uses a sample from one of my all-time favorite songs by him, “Interlude,” which made me really excited. “Elsewhere” also fits very well with the theme of the album. EDEN seems to beg the subject of the song not to leave him: “Old friend, don’t go / I don’t wanna feel alone no more / it comes and it goes.” While keeping to the theme, the outro shifts the mood from the typical electronic track to an acoustic with a lot of layering harmonies. Once again EDEN seems to be addressing his ex when he says, “I don’t wanna wake you / It’s clear you’d rather be elsewhere / I’d rather be in love.” In terms of the timeline, “Elsewhere” seems to fall in between “Sci-Fi” and “PS1.” The relationship isn’t over yet, but it’s coming to an end. He recognizes that she wants to leave, but he is holding out hope that she will love him back so he won’t be alone again.
Reaching 2
“Reaching 2” is the best song on the album HANDS DOWN. The lyrics, the instrumental, the complexity… this song has all the qualities of EDEN’s music that make him my favorite artist. The drop in the first verse following, “But I only hear about you through friends now” made me go crazy. This song transcends the relationship throughout the album and relates to other relationships he lost, and the lapse of time that we only start recognizing as we get older. The line “I guess we are who we are ‘til we’re not” was based on a mantra that EDEN held for years which stated, “you are who you are.” As time went on, he felt that the mantra was painfully obvious, but didn’t account for the times when you mess up or change to the point you don’t recognize yourself. The song as a whole is about accepting the past for what it was and recognizing that no matter how much you miss it, you can never go back.
references
District. “Eden Is Ireland’s Biggest Pop Star Hidden in Plain Sight.” District Magazine, 8 Sept.
2022, https://districtmagazine.ie/music/eden-is-irelands-biggest-pop-star-hidden-in-plain-sight/
“Eden – Reaching 2.” Genius, https://genius.com/26734584