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Mar 20, 2019Miss Universe is an intimate record full of personal fears and emotions, but these are of wider, universal relevance. They should resonate with us all.
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Mar 19, 2019For Yanya, this is a masterful debut that, like a tasting menu, looks jarring on paper but, in practice, is tantalising, surprising and undoubtedly impressive.
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May 10, 2019Miss Universe is a hell of a debut, with Yanya proving herself a powerhouse of songwriting especially, not to mention her pristine vocals and unique guitar voice.
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Mar 25, 2019Nilüfer Yanya has managed to produce an album which flits from one template to the next, yet at no time is there a tendency to feel that this is contrived and neither does it suggest an artist scrabbling around for an identity and an audience which then comes with it. These shifts in style always feel controlled, as though the song demands them.
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Mar 22, 2019Yanya’s songs reflect a woman who’s uncertain of how much of herself to reveal to the world. That is both the allure of Miss Universe and what augurs even brighter things to come.
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Mar 26, 2019This is an emotionally multi-faceted album to luxuriate in.
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Mar 25, 2019Even the mildly satirical skits, which don’t quite work, prove her desire to create a proper album, rewarding repeated listening.
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Mar 22, 2019Instead of locking itself into prescribed notions of success, emotions, or companionship, Miss Universe establishes truths and solutions of its own, on its own. Like Yanya's career, it exists and succeeds through sheer force of will.
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Mar 22, 2019Filled with crunchy, complex tunes that elegantly interweave a host of unusual influences, Miss Universe is an impressive and bold record.
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Mar 21, 2019Yanya covers a wide breadth of styles and emotions here and even if it all doesn't hang together perfectly, Miss Universe is a fascinating debut that is reflective of the pressures we place on ourselves and others which all too often result in a striving but imperfect mess.
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Mar 21, 2019There’s been a lot of hype surrounding her since she made it on to BBC’s Sound of 2018 list. Miss Universe justifies it.
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Mar 20, 2019Although refusing to be pigeonholed, the album hangs together effortlessly and each part feels as vital as the last; despite its 17-song length, it’s hard to imagine Yanya’s vision without each one of these tracks.
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MojoMar 19, 2019Yanya's music calls to mind gritty jazz/rock griot King Krule, Sampha's contemplative street soul and her key teenage influences: Pixies, Winehouse and The Libertines. Her spiky guitar playing is confidently pushed to the front of the mix here. [Apr 2019, p.86]
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Q MagazineMar 19, 2019The West Londner's debut is startlingly intimate, full of soulful, jazzy echoes of a lonely city. [May 2019, p.116]
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UncutMar 19, 2019She crafts tightly coiled rock epics with just a few elements, sounding like The Strokes one minute, Liz Phair the next. [Apr 2019, p.39]
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Mar 19, 2019It all sounds a little inconceivable on paper, but is tied together and brought to life by a singer-songwriter who evades pigeonholing--on purpose or accidentally, it doesn’t really matter--and provides a debut that’s all her own.
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Mar 19, 2019Miss Universe is an intriguing and smoothly constructed record. Groove and melancholy exist simultaneously in Yanya's work, providing listeners with no single answer to the questions she poses.
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Mar 19, 2019It never feels like an artist being clever for the sake of it. It’s more like listening to someone let the music that seeped into them in their teens gush out, albeit in a profoundly altered state.
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Oct 4, 2019The only misstep comes from spoken interludes about WWAY Health, an unnecessary framing device for a smart, textured zigzag of songwriting.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 41 out of 48
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Mixed: 6 out of 48
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Negative: 1 out of 48
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Mar 31, 2019
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Mar 28, 2019
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Dec 2, 2021