So far, 2018 has been a surprisingly good year for Sheryl Crow. Though the release of her tenth studio album last year pretty much flew under the radar, she’s since been covered live by the likes of Soccer Mommy, Phoebe Bridgers, Snail Mail, and Waxahatchee, and just last month she released a single with the help of Annie Clark. With many contemporary female musicians coming of age between the cultural pillars of the angst-ridden “If It Makes You Happy” and the, well, soccer-mommy pop of “Soak Up the Sun,” it’s no wonder her diverse songbook has made a sudden resurgence.
While Baked seems to have grown up primarily on the other thing that happened in music in the ’90s, there have been moments where they’ve veered into the lane of mainstream pop—but never so much as on their new track, the rare Isabella Mingione–led “Hope You’re Happy.” As the first song they’ve shared from their forthcoming EP II, to be released as a part of Exploding in Sound’s EIS Tape Club, “Happy” counters their traditional scuzz with jaunty melody and a catchy hook at odds with its recollection of a constricting relationship, even abruptly ending in Crowian revelation: “I didn’t realize I was never free.”
“I wrote this during a time of inconsolable sadness where I was suffering from panic attacks and felt very beaten down from the demise of a toxic relationship,” explains Mingione. “It was a way for me to speak out against the depression that was consuming me, and overcome the feeling of being replaced by someone else.”
“Inspired by Alanis,” she concludes, citing the bygone decade’s queen of middle ground.
II is out August 24 on Exploding in Sound. You can pre-order it here.
