ALBUM ★★★★
10 songs long and 27 minutes short, girl in red’s new album, “I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!” was released on April 12. Throughout the album, she explores contrasting moods and tones as she shifts through the tracklist. The album, in order, is rocky and has an uneven flow but with the right shuffle, it’s an amazing album. While the exploration has its own unique merit, I prefer to listen to the album alongside other girl in red songs rather than by itself.
The album starts solemnly with her song “I’m Back,” a song with slow melodies and soft singing, about her re-entry into the media after a trip to rehab. Although dealing with a difficult concept, girl in red lightens the mood with an immediate switch to the title track, “DOING IT AGAIN BABY,” an energetic song with loud bass.
Alongside the mood and tonal shifts, her story shifts through the album too. She starts with songs like “Phantom Pain” and “A Night to Remember,” capturing her love and relationship at the time through softer melodies and sweet lyrics, but then leads into “Ugly Side” and “Pick Me,” songs that portray her breakups and intense feelings towards a mystery person by her sanguine tones and heartfelt words.
However, girl in red couldn’t sing all of these songs alone. One of the most popular songs on this album is “You Need Me Now?” featuring Sabrina Carpenter’s elevating voice. After both of their fast climbs to fame and experience on the Eras Tour, it made sense to release a song together. Together, their voices collided wonderfully and created an enjoyable, fast-paced, exciting song.
The album still has uplifting tendencies and is a great listen that’s easy to relate to. While not every song may be a hit and the shifts may be jarring, I still rate this album a 4/5 stars.
CONCERT ★★★★★
Girl in Red flawlessly took the stage at Masonic Temple on May 2. This was my second time seeing Girl in Red in concert and, needless to say, I was impressed. Her constant upbeat vibes and portrayal of the album was amazing and completely unmatched towards listening at home.
Her setlist began with her title track and goes through four other songs on her newest album. She also played some of her hit songs like “We Fell in Love in October” and “Bad Idea!” Unlike her album, the setlist had a great flow with calm and exciting points in the concert, never taking a smile off of anyone’s face.
Her performance didn’t stop at singing, she spent around half an hour talking and interacting with the crowd. People had thrown gifts on stage to her and made tons of signs that she read out loud. It was one of the most interactive concerts I’ve ever experienced.
Technically, the lighting designs were amazing. They used strobe lights near the beginning and end, but during the concert, they played with different colors, intensities and smoke. The sound in the theater was noteworthy as girl in red played guitar and piano in the show.
This was one of my favorite concerts because of the never-ending good vibes and hilarious crowdwork. For me, this was definitely a core memory making the concert deserving of 5/5 stars.
