Oh No, Not Again! An EP Review

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     Chicago native, and at one time, future engineer, Alexander 23, writes, records, and produces every song he releases in his self-built Los Angeles studio. Alex has been making music since he was 12 and spent his youth through his early 20ʻs refining his skills and eventually releasing his debut EP, Iʻm Sorry I Love You in the fall of 2019. Throughout the treacherous course of 2020, Alexander released six singles including, I Hate You So Much, IDK You Yet, and Nothingʻs the Same ft. Jeremy Zucker.

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     In January, the singer released the highly anticipated track, Cry Over Boys; the song was featured in one of Alexʻs Tik Toks with the lyrics, “Arenʻt you sick of making it worse?” and “You cry over boys you know will never cry over you.” Along with the song itself, the official music video dropped the same day and was the surreal visual we all needed. Alexander opens the video walking around the inner-most area of a dry cleaner, transitioning to a close-up of him driving a car, and once again into a strange, isolated, rest stop bathroom where he changes into the suit he picked from the cleaners. The most enviable event in this video, however, is not the horror-film bathroom, but when Alex climbs from the driverʻs seat of the car onto its roof, laying there with the breeze flowing up from his legs to his chest and into the shoulders of his suit coat. The act of lying there, arms and legs spread across the top, that reckless carelessness is a feeling, I can only imagine at this point in my life and a new stunt to add to my bucket list.

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     Today, Alex released his sophomore EP, Oh No, Not Again! and what follows is my review of the project. This pain-soaked collection of songs is a cathartic release of emotions not only for Alexander, the person who actually wrote the project but also for me and many of his other fans. The singerʻs raw lyrics are unique to the situations discussed in his music, yet at the same time, universally felt. We have all cried over someone at one time in our lives or another that wouldnʻt do the same for us; we have all been the girl in Good to See You Again! spewing hate-filled sentences like “In 100 years, when weʻre both dead, I would still never want to see you again”; we have all been that emotionally unavailable, love-sick fool pining after someone we cannot have, weʻre just not lucky enough to have that person leave the country and not have to worry that weʻre in the same coffee place (please see Caught in the Middle).

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EP Rating: A SOLID 8/10. I can listen to the EP front to back or as single tracks, each ready for their own “Pining” playlist.

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Favorite Track(s): She Loves Me & Good to See You Again!

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Best for: This EP has an overall downer vibe (which, of course, is always welcome at the Thornley House), speaking of love-lost and the emotions that follow, however, I am inclined to put She Loves Me on my Sunday Drive playlist. The slowed bounce-beat and playful cadence of the lyrics scream “Put your top-down and head back! Roll into the center of a town you donʻt know and explore!” I can already feel the cool Spring breeze on my resting arm as I hang off every word of the song.

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~Reagan Thornley