Caroline Rose has never been one to repeat herself. While not the dramatic departure that her previous album, Loner, was from her country-laced early output, Superstar still showcases an artist that is ever-evolving.
Loner was a masterpiece of a pop album that deftly avoided pop tropes for character-driven songs written in diverse voices, and drawing from eclectic musical influences.Caroline Rose has never been one to repeat herself. While not the dramatic departure that her previous album, Loner, was from her country-laced early output, Superstar still showcases an artist that is ever-evolving.
Loner was a masterpiece of a pop album that deftly avoided pop tropes for character-driven songs written in diverse voices, and drawing from eclectic musical influences. Superstar doubles down on Rose's impressive talent for writing in character, but this time leans head-on into the pop tropes of ego, love, and heartbreak with a narrative concept album focused around a single character, a deeply flawed wannabe star who, after getting a (presumably mistaken) call from the Chateau Marmont, says goodbye to all her haters and makes a cross-country roadtrip to embrace a future that exists only in their head.
Musically, the album zeros in on a neon-soaked low-fi synth pop sound that suits the album's theme of pop stardom. None of this would be terribly out of place alongside earlier songs like Jeanie Becomes a Mom or Talk, but don't expect the diversions into surf rock and rockabilly found on earlier albums. That isn't to say Superstar is repetitive, but it sacrifices some of the eclectic elements from her past work for a more cohesive sound. This is Rose's first wholly self-produced album, and while the arrangements themselves never seem over-indulgent (and are even refreshingly spare at times), some of the production does. The layers of vocal effects are especially regrettable because they can occasionally make it more difficult to parse the lyrics, which are perhaps the album's greatest strength.
Like most concept albums, the story, as it were, is impressionistic, not a detailed blueprint for a three-act play. The first half is hopeful, driven by ego and delusion, evoking at turns the swagger or Prince, the unconditional self-love of Taylor Swift, and the dreams of glitz and glamor of hip-hop. The B-slide is a downward spiral of heartbreak, bargaining, and acceptance. While slathered in satire and maintaining a certain ironic distance, it still feels vaguely confessional; a grotesque exaggeration of Rose's worst inner demons.
Superstar's 11 song cycle forms a more coherent whole than anything Rose has done to date, and like the best concept albums, its songs are often enhanced by their context and place in the arc of that playlist. But there are trade-offs that come with this narrower focus. While almost every song on Loner could stand on its own, Superstar's songs sometimes rely on that context. There are still some undeniable bangers like the electro-funk opener "Nothing's Impossible, the Prince-tinged anthem of self-love "Feel the Way I Want," and the neurotic and confessional "Do You Think We'll Last Forever," but there are others that mostly seem to serve as a bridge. Even then,
Rose continues to be one of the most interesting songwriters in the pop world, and Superstar is ambitious, focused, and polished to a glittery sheen. While it may not showcase the breadth of her talents as well as her previous albums, it certainly plumbs their depths.… Expand