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Musician Jessy Lanza has spent the last decade honing her unique house pop sound. Her new album, "Love Hallucination," is an exploration into complicated feelings, says NPR music contributor Harry Tafoya.
HARRY TAFOYA, BYLINE: Jessy Lanza is a Canadian pop artist and producer. She is somebody who I've been excited about for a very long time because she does something really, really cool. She's able to combine these absolutely sticky and delicious pop hooks that wouldn't be out of place on a Janet Jackson record, but over some really, really exciting electronic music. She's not an artist who changes wildly from record to record. But what you get every single time, though, is slight variations to the formula. And it's like meeting an old friend again. You kind of get another big dose of their personality on display.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T LEAVE ME NOW")
JESSY LANZA: (Singing) Don't leave me. Don't leave me.
TAFOYA: "Don't Leave Me Now."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T LEAVE ME NOW")
LANZA: (Singing) Don't leave me.
TAFOYA: When she was in Los Angeles, she had this, like - I'm not sure if it was a near-death experience necessarily, but she had a kind of frightening moment where she almost got hit by a car. And "Don't Leave Me Now" is kind of narrating her panic in time. And I think that you have the footwork drums underneath it, which are pounding off at a really, really fast rate, kind of almost mirroring, you know, her internal anxiety.
(SOUNDBITE OF JESSY LANZA'S "DON'T LEAVE ME NOW")
TAFOYA: "I Hate Myself."
(SOUNDBITE OF JESSY LANZA'S "I HATE MYSELF")
TAFOYA: I think if you were to listen to - I mean, if you were to take that title on its own, "I Hate Myself," You would just imagine that it's like, the most depressing emo song you've ever heard in your entire life. But the thing that I like about this, though - it's two things. No. 1, it's a major flex for her as a producer because she's able to kind of weave in all different kinds of exciting elements around her voice. So she's repeating those words, I hate myself, you're so cool over and over again.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I HATE MYSELF")
LANZA: (Singing) I hate myself. You're so cool.
TAFOYA: She's cooing. She's being sultry. She's being seductive. She's being self-deprecating. And I think it's funny because taken alone by itself, you would imagine it would be a very, very grim song. It would be a depressing song. But there's all different kinds of traces of personality that are kind of shining through this as well.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIMBO")
LANZA: (Singing) I can live my life in limbo.
TAFOYA: "Limbo" is one of my absolute favorite pop songs this year. I think it is one of her all-time-best songs as well. It basically kind of concerns this question of like, you know, she's out with a guy, is she going to go home or, you know, is she going to go out again to another bar or is she going to head out? And what I think is so great about this particular song is that it is entirely savoring the possibilities. You know, she has her entire night ahead of her. And she could kind of do whatever she wants. And I think it almost kind of relishes in that freedom. And she, you know, actually spells out the lyrics - L-I-M-B-O - complete enthusiasm.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIMBO")
LANZA: (Singing) L-I-M-B-O.
TAFOYA: She's completely savoring the fact that she's at this moment of decision, and she could really do whatever she wants. I think she's really kind of savoring her freedom in a way. And it really kind of - It's so satisfying. You know, it's a very, very bold pop song. And I think it also does kind of mimic one of the best luxuries that music has to offer a listener, which is, you know, it really lets a listener kind of dwell on a moment.
CHANG: That was NPR music contributor Harry Tafoya. Jessy Lanza's "Love Hallucination" is out now.
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