TheFreshFinds
On her newest EP, stay moist, emerging indie pop cool girl beccs no longer
wants to be a sad girl. With a title inspired by her frequent crying episodes during the
pandemic, she is ready to wipe her tears away and focus on pure, level-headed
poptimism.
The New York City-based artist has never been one to shy away from mental
health, and stay moist doesn’t hold anything back either. She treats her soft, airy
melodies as her personal journal, vowing to break the chains of unhealthy past habits.
Lead song “Good Comin’” is snappy and jubilant; beccs is itching to show off her vocal
talents, hitting astonishing high notes off the bat. Through the first track, she clearly
establishes her motif of healing and boundary setting, boldly proclaiming that “I don’t
even masturbate / I’m afraid I might text you.”
beccs wants to be honest with herself and her base, and doesn’t shy away about
the things she isn’t proud of. “I could binge on you all day, repeat the things you say,”
she tells her ex-lover on “I Don’t Do Fun.” She’s upfront about her past ways, pulling
back the curtain on her shameful moments — but reveals her growth and changed
mentality as well. Through her dreamy, whimsical modern melodies, she’s reminiscent of
cutting-edge 2010s indie pop acts such as Imogen Heap and Tessa Violet.
Feminist pop artist Bitch makes an appearance on “Jealous Bitch,” a raw track
about female comparison and the ways society pins women against each other. beccs is
aware of this pattern and questions her spite towards the girl in question. “I don’t want to
look at you like you’re my foe, but I can’t let go,” she sings, exasperated.
Squashing internalized misogynistic beef is a hot topic in pop spaces right now, with the
diss-track-turned-collab of Charli XCX and Lorde’s “Girl, so confusing” opening up a
conversation about what happens when female friendships get complicated. Further
proving that these platonic relationships aren’t always black or white, beccs and Bitch
convey these choppy tides of love and hate using cutting vocal effects.
“f 0 0 d” sees beccs take a stripped-back, almost neo-soul vocal approach over a
90s trip-hop-inspired beat. By connecting her relationship with eating with how it feels to
be with somebody that’s no good for her, she follows through even further on the EP's
self-initiated goal of shedding bad coping mechanisms. She is laser-focused on finding
peace within herself as opposed to outside influences, and, as she states on the last track
“Rage In My Veins,” making “amends before I start to bleed.” She articulates her
complicated feelings of anger and disdain with composure and blissful, soft vocal
harmony.
She has broken free of her quarantine days of sadness and is looking towards a
bright future filled with good habits and doing what’s best for herself.
