Samia - Honey

If 2021 belonged to Olivia Rodrigo, and Phoebe Bridgers became everyone’s go-to in 2022, it looks like 2023 is primed to be Samia’s year. ‘Honey’ - the second album from the Nashville-via-NYC songwriter - hooks into the same kind of raw and honest songwriting as ‘SOUR’ and ‘Punisher’ did before it. Led by the singer’s crystalline vocals, she tells heartstring pulling stories across 11 tracks of pop-leaning gems. “I hope you marry that girl from your hometown / And I’ll fucking kill her / And I’ll fucking freak out,” she sings on opener ‘Kill Her Freak Out’; “I don’t wanna talk / I don’t really wanna work it out,” she notes on goosebump-inducing ‘Sea Lions’. “I was trying to imagine looking back at the end of life and what I’d have to say about it right now,” Samia explains of ‘Honey’, resulting in a bright and inviting pop album that brilliantly captures the emotional snapshots of life.