Review of: ‘Villains’ by Emma Blackery

Sometimes it’s difficult to appreciate the lengths that artists go to in order to make their album, case in point, pop singer and songwriter Emma Blackery. Initially inspired by YouTube comedy stars, Blackery has been gradually electing to push that aside in favour of pursuing a career as a songwriter and singer, and a whole lot of work and a few EPs later, the debut independently released studio album ‘Villains’ was born and is now available.

However much I was looking forward to this album, my expectations were not sky high. The lead single ‘Dirt’ divided fans, and while ‘Agenda’ was a measurable step forward, it was clear that a lot of people were unsure if the hero they knew and loved for her comedy beginnings on YouTube would be able to pull through on a full length album. So, did Emma Blackery and her collaborating producers make something worthwhile on ‘Villains’?

I'll say this, this album tested me. It's a total mess and one that borrows from every corner of pop music and a total nightmare in terms of instrumental cohesion. But despite the pileup of pop tones and textures that make up this album, it would be wrong to call this album outright bad, mainly because there is at least something of a thematic core to it that we will discuss in detail later.

But first, the production, and, as I mentioned earlier, it's all over the place. Between the theatrical and kind of overblown crush of the chorus on 'Villains Pt. 1', the more conventional and accessible production with the sweeping synths on 'Dirt' and 'Agenda', to the swampier production style on 'Take Me Out' and 'Third Eye', I can definitely say that Emma Blackery and her collaborators did not make a boring pop album. That doesn't mean to say I like all of it, though. I've already discussed how 'Villains Pt. 1' feels incredibly overblown, but you could easily place 'Burn The Witch' into the same category. On the other end of the scale you have a song like 'Petty' where the guitar groove might be welcome, but by the hook it's been swallowed by wonky sounding synth fragments that clash horribly with the main melody. 'Take Me Out' is another example. The buildup might be pleasant, but by the hook the melody is heavily compromised by grading rickety percussion that does not need to be there.

It might sound like I'm being overly harsh on a debut album that clearly did not have a significant budget, but there was potential even with all this in mind. 'Third Eye' and 'Burn The Witch' are far from a great songs, but the galloping hooks are pretty infectious. 'Icarus' is another one I can see myself coming back to with the restraint central melody proving remarkably sticky. Similar case with the more jittery production that grew on me a lot on 'Fake Friends', but the best song on this album is by far 'What I Felt With You' where the mix is emptied of all the chaos giving Blackery the room on the mix to properly emote.

But a lot of that song's power comes from where it's placed on the album, and so let's discuss the thematic arc on this album. In short, it's about the villains in Blackery's life, particularly a nameless ex who somehow did her wrong (even though the most evil thing we see him do is call Blackery out for some reason on social media after the break up on 'Dirt'). From there the album sees Blackery trying to hide her emotions on 'Fake Friends', reflecting on what she could have done better on 'Icarus', coming to terms with any lingering feelings on ‘What I Felt With You’, before letting her resent for this guy take her over on ‘Burn The Witch’. While this may seem rather unspectacular on the surface, I will give Blackery a lot of credit for her self aware framing. Take a song like ‘Icarus’ with lines like ‘You know the higher you fly the less you can hide’ in reference to how she’s aware of her own egotistical tendencies, it makes the obnoxious kiss off tracks like ‘Dirt’, ‘Petty’ and to a lesser extent ‘Agenda’ at least feel vaguely self aware. Part of the reason why Blackery singing about self doubt (‘But what can I do when I've got nothing else / Not even myself) actually have a fair bit of weight to it, she knows her flaws.

That doesn't mean to say that there are not moments that just make me role my eyes. Take the nursery rhyme cadence on ‘Agenda’ where she spells out the titular word, and on ‘Burn The Witch’ where on the bridge Blackery sings ‘Roses are red, violets are blue / Lady Karma’s a bitch and she’s coming for you’. Furthermore, on ‘Petty’ you get lines like ‘You used to call me petty ‘till you took out the R’, and even on the standout ‘What I Felt With You’ you get the line ‘I hate the colour blue ‘cause that’s what I felt with you’. In these cases this kind of songwriting can work, but for an album trying to be as over the top and theatrical as this you wouldn’t think this cutesy writing style would be a good idea.

But overall, this album is a mess, but the mingled, vaguely self aware framing did a lot for me. I’m not sure it quite enough to hoist the album above just about passable, but I get the feeling that Blackery won’t get the credit she deserves in terms of the subtlety of some of her songwriting, and that’s the real tragedy.

3 / 5

Best Songs: ‘What I Felt With You’, ‘Icarus’, ‘Agenda’, ‘Villains Pt. 1’

Worst Songs: ‘Petty’