ALBUM REVIEW: With A Smile – Best Ex
Making a major change of sound from her early punk days with CANDY HEARTS, singer-songwriter Mariel Loveland has taken her first steps into the indie-pop world with her latest project BEST EX. Releasing their debut full-length following their signing to Alcopop! Records, With A Smile sees Loveland softening her approach to her art and doing a fantastic job with her first attempt.
The first full track appearing on the record, Tell Your Friends, is a post-breakup reflection. Making peace with a disastrous relationship coming to a disastrous end, it’s a gentle ease into the rest of the album. The use of Loveland‘s vocals works well with this new direction she’s turning down. Adapting to a bouncier, sugar-fuelled, tongue-in-cheek attitude-riddled genre from a down and dirty punk origin sounds like the most ambitious task, yet Loveland has done her best to smoothly make that transition. Steps not stomps. Smiles not snarls. Forgiveness not revenge. It’s like turning the ultimate cheek, both in music and outside.
I Promise To Ruin Your Life is an anthem about two broken people finding love and ultimately knowing it’s not forever. There is an expectation for those scorned in the past to be overly cautious, and that no one is worth trusting. No one is worth giving one’s all to. No person will ever be that ‘one’ that is always written about in storybooks and fairytales. Loveland‘s take on this belief is going in with the knowledge that yes, things have gone wrong before and yes, there’s a chance it’ll happen again. But even if it does, just do it. The broken can’t get even more broke, and the heartbroken cannot possibly hurt any more than they already do.
A recurring theme within With A Smile is to slap a grin over a pained and tired feeling, to pretend there is nothing to worry about. Pretending that the world is in their favour, all their plans are going ahead, luck is coming their way. However, no matter how sweet and buttery the delivery comes across musically, the lyrics will always reveal the truth of it all. The truth of love, the truth of sadness, and the truth of living in 21st century society. Smiling and giggling can crack open to shine the dark secrets held undercover, and then everyone will realise that things aren’t as good as they seem on the surface. The power of music is to bring everything to the attention of everyone passing by, living their own lives the best they can, and possibly help someone learn a bit more about themselves and their own emotions.
A catchier track as the record winds down is the simply titled The End. This is a track about realising that the world isn’t ending, but recognising that for the majority of the time, it can feel like it is due to daily occurrences. In this number, Loveland wishes for one normal dull day in life, without thrills or spills, climbing hills or spine-shattering chills. She just wants a day where she can enjoy the world and not see, hear or fear the worst.
As the record winds to its end, looking back upon this change-up with the conception of BEST EX and their debut record, this is a sound that makes a settled break and a welcome switch for Loveland. The indie genre, specifically pop-infused indie sounds, is the biggest trend around the music world as the 2020s roar on, and capitalising on this ascending trend is one of the smartest and/or bravest moves many alternative personalities can make. Whether they find it in their head constantly, or they’ve struck inspirational gold with the genre and its elements in the songwriting process, it’s becoming the current big thing within the industry.
BEST EX are New Jersey’s latest export of this teenage-bedroom-inspired brand of indie, and with relatable lyrics to beats that’ll stick in the brain and melodies that will dance from ear to ear for days after listening, no one can imagine them staying within bedroom walls. They will not be confined, and they will not rest until everyone leaves With A Smile.
Rating: 7/10
With A Smile is out now via Alcopop! Records/Iodine Recordings.
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