Sir Babygirl 
Crush on Me
FATHER/DAUGHTER
6/10
One of Father/Daughter Records’ latest additions is Sir Babygirl, a self-proclaimed diva with a penchant for blurring the lines between musical expectations and reality. Crush on Me is her debut album, and it explores maturity, queer identity, and how it all relates to the frosted pink, hardcore world we live in.
Right off the bat, the part-dancehall, part-808 percussion beat on “Heels” throws you for a few loops. Without much support from other melodies in the track, the main focus is on Kelsie Hogue’s shrill, sugary sweet, entirely over-the-top, entirely charismatic voice. The control she has of her range is incredible, and you can hear it pushed to the limit in the chant “I changed my hair!” and pulled back in the following falsettos and vibratos. Don’t let the pop princess moniker fool you, though—the trills aren’t mistakes. There’s a certain amount of skill and technique that goes into getting those sounds from the vocal cords, and Sir Babygirl has the schooling to prove it (formal voice training AND a theater degree).
Despite the impressiveness of it, the ups and downs don’t match the tempos, and the vocal highs and lows seem a few notes off—resulting in an off-putting, cacophonous display of identity. But maybe that’s the point. Sir Babygirl doesn’t exist solely for our pleasure, and we can’t expect her to sing in a way that we’d deem as standard in the industry. Her lyrics are fresh, relatable, and tell a great story. However, the backing instrumentations draw too much from pre-existing media for the work to stand on its own. The “Pink Lite” intro noodling sounds like a mash-up between “What’s My Age Again?” and Mom Jeans’ “Edward 40hands.” The start of “Flirting with Her” could be “Sex” by The 1975. “Cheerleader” bears eerie resemblance to the Code Lyoko theme song. The list goes on for…eight tracks. That being said, the last song, “Crush on Me (Outro),” is easily the best, with an infectious beat and perfectly synthed vocals to match, like a refreshing cross between Charly Bliss and The Prettiots.
Creating and producing an album is a huge undertaking, but if Sir Babygirl had hired a different producer, this might’ve been a monumental step forward for pop music. Unfortunately, that fairytale does not exist, and what we’re left with is a pumpkin after midnight.
