Baby Queen The Yearbook mixtape is here and it doesn’t disappoint!
In just over a year Baby Queen has released a wealth of hits and her debut album isn’t even out until 2022! In late 2020 6-track Medicine EP came out with the songs that introduced South African-born Arabella Latham to the world having signed a record deal in lockdown.
Since then there has been a slight twist in the tone with the 5 singles which have followed, ditching the satirical and brash lyrics for something calmer and relatable, replacing statements with pages from a teenage diary that come together on The Yearbook, a ten-track mixtape.
It will take a while to fully appreciate The Yearbook as a whole having spent months with half of the mixtape (first single, Raw Thoughts was released in January!), two tracks (Baby Kingdom & Dover Beach, Pt.2) are more like monologues whilst there’s three new ones (Narcissist, Fake Believe & I’m A Mess) which fit in brilliantly.
The mixtape opens up with Baby Kingdom, a short statement from Bella before Raw Thoughts drops in and slaps hard with nostalgic vibes and a killer chorus that will be sung out loud for years. Baby Queen arrived last year with big, bold singles, since then the last three (You Shaped Heart, American Dream and Dover Beach) failed to reach those same heights (still great but high standards had been hit) however they make much more sense now they are part of this mixtape.
What it lacks in Want Me’s energy and pop perfection from Pretty Girl Lie (two of my favourite singles of 2020, I had them on repeat for months) it makes up for in brutal honesty as Bella looks back on her 24 years. Raw Thoughts, These Drugs and I’m A Mess are full of destructive youth, depression and addiction, You Shaped Heart and Dover Beach touch on heartbreak whilst Narcissist brilliantly tackles the dangers that the internet has on reality. Fake Believe, sees Baby Queen reach Taylor Swift levels on style, composure and delivery without it feeling like something we’ve heard before.
Baby Queen is a lockdown artist who is coming out of the pandemic (fingers crossed) with a solid mixtape, she’s already played a handful of shows (since her first ever live performance in July), there’s an upcoming support tour with Sea Girls in the autumn, three headline shows in London before her debut album lands in the new year. There’s a bright future for this queen.
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