Album Review Sigrid - How To Let Go

Boasting ten top 40 singles in her native Norway and a top-five debut album in the UK, Sigrid unarguably has a name for herself as a hit-making machine. Yet ironically, that’s exactly where much of the criticism of debut album ‘Sucker Punch’ came from; every song was a radio-ready single, but there wasn’t much to tie it together. Opening confidently with the sci-fi-inspired ‘It Gets Dark’, the core theme of ‘How To Let Go’ becomes apparent: throughout the album Sigrid is colliding with herself, accepting everything she is, the light and the dark. At times she is the unabashed pop star who takes huge stages in her stride; on ‘It Gets Dark’, she accepts each fragment of her personality through euphoric hooks and anthemic beats, and with the dance-heavy ‘Burning Bridges’ she turns to face the darkness of someone else. In this case, it results in the story of leaving a partner set to a soundtrack of flourishing sonic confidence. But ‘How To Let Go’ is an album of two halves, where at times she seamlessly slides back into the laid-back persona of old. On ‘Dancer’ and the acoustic guitar-led ‘Grow’, she’s still that chill girl from Norway, and it’s in these contrasts where you find the album’s story, one that tells of coming of age and acceptance: without dark, you cannot know light.