Abbie Ozard – ‘Everything Still Worries Me’ album review: Held back by juvenile energy
THE SKINNY: Introspective lyricism can be an incredibly powerful thing. Some of the best songs in the world feel like outpourings of emotion delivered with little editing for a raw and vulnerable result. Whether they’re a window to the soul or a snapshot of a specific and personal moment, there is power in a diaristic approach to art. However, on her debut album, Everything Still Worries Me, Abbie Ozard fails to move beyond a more juvenile journal.
Instrumentally, the album has the foundations to establish Manchester’s Ozard as the next big name to know in indie-pop. It’s textured and dynamic, pulling together the strings and strains of a whole range of various sounds and genres, from electro detailing and shoegaze-influenced moody moments to pure bubblegum pop. Moments of greatness are found when she really leans into this and uses the music as a genuine tool, working in harmony with her words.
On tracks where she drops into more angsty energy like ‘Anything For You’ or ‘Space For Two’, it suddenly feels like everything is working in unity, allowing her lyrics to be more moving and her performance more interesting as she moves into a more bedroom pop-type soundscape. Elsewhere, her collaboration with Pixey on ‘Miss American Dream’ shows the flipside as she steps into the world of all-out, in-your-face pop production, which gives more to grip onto and get into.
But when the build of a song isn’t big or glossed enough, the spotlight on Ozard’s words leaves the album feeling limp and somewhat immature. There are moments where her vocal performance feels highlighted when it’s at its weakest, as if she can’t keep up with the energy of her own track. At other times, the issue lies in her diaristic lyrics as they begin sounding like the thoughts of a cliché teenager. Or better yet, sometimes it sounds like a first attempt at a song as the rhythming schemes become a bit too obvious and banal, such as in lyrics like, “Right now there’s a party for one and I feel free / to be whoever I wanna be / when no ones watching me.”
However, Ozard has proved she’s better than this in the past. Her 2022 EP, Water Based Lullabies, felt infinitely more lyrically and instrumentally interesting, with more nuance and less cliché. Perhaps this was a case of the pressure of the debut album getting the best of her, or maybe there were external factors at play almost trying to make her more basic to fit some trending mould, but either way, it’s a shame that this long-awaited long-form project doesn’t feel reflective of the artist’s best.
For fans of: Rhyming dictionaries.
A concluding comment from my journal: Dear diary, today I listened to the Abbie Ozard album and thought it was just fine.
Everything Still Worries Me track by track
Release date: July 26th | Producer: Hugo Silvani | Label: House Anxiety
‘The Window’: Abbie Ozard wastes no time as she launches into her musical world with full colour and textures, sitting somewhere between anthemic indie and intimate bedroom pop. [3/5]
‘How are you holding up?’: This one has major singalong potential as Ozard delivers an instant earworm with that main hooking question left spiralling around your mind. [3/5]
‘Anything For You’: The instrumentals drop into something darker and more angsty, casting Ozard’s vocals and lyrics in a better light. In the gloom, her talent seems to glow brighter as this sound feels more considered and elevated. [3.5/5]
‘Monsters’: Musically, this has the making of a crowdpleaser indie-pop anthem, but there’s something in the lyricism and delivery that holds it back in a slightly immature, cliché way of obvious rhymes and overused phrasings paired with attempts to be quirky. [2/5]
‘Days Like This’: As Ozard attempts to move her music into new realms and levels, tracks like this with juvenile “doo doo doo”s don’t help. There are moments that could drop into a kind of Kate Nash sarcastic glory, but it just lands in the world of stale twee. [2/5]
‘I don’t know happiness without you’: I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is about the mixing of Ozard’s vocals on this track, but it does her no favours, seemingly shining a spotlight on weaker moments in the album’s performance. [2/5]
‘I miss when we were friends’: These titles feel like they should be assigned to emotionally devastating, acutely introspective yet poetic ballads. But instead, this track especially has the energy of a teenage diary entry put to music, trapping it in a juvenile space. [2.5/5]
‘Night Time’: Ozard picks up the pace again to attempt to get back into the arena of indie-pop anthems. The instrumental definitely revives a second wind of enthusiasm for the album, but still, the vocal performance and lyricism can’t seem to keep up. [2.5/5]
‘Party For One’: The intro to this song, with voice notes and a darker piano, immediately delivers something different. For the verses, Ozard’s lyricism feels infinitely more interesting here, reminiscent of some of her early tracks that seemed to have more substance. [3/5]
‘Miss American Dream’: Joining up with another alt-pop new name to note, the addition of Pixey on this track definitely elevates it. The indie-pop bursts into brighter colours with a more high-production finish that Ozard should have leaned further into. [3.5/5]
‘Space For Two’: As a kind of second half of the coin to ‘Party for one’, Ozard proves again that she’s at her best when she switches up her style and opts for something darker and deeper. [3.5/5]
‘Everything Still Worries Me’: For the album’s title track, Ozard captures the kind of diaristic energy of the album but delivers it at its best. With much of the same lyrical content as a lot of the rest of the album, it’s said best here. [3/5]
‘Think For Yourself’: This finale track proves one last time that Ozard should have leaned into more purposeful and high-scale production, benefitting massively from the more interesting textures to add mood and colour to her work. [3/5]
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