Jordana
Something to Say to You
GRAND JURY
7/10
Jordana Nye is figuring out her power, and she isn’t wasting any time. Her sophomore album Something to Say to You, which follows March’s debut Classical Notions of Happiness, is two conjoined EPs that the 21-year-old has been working on during the pandemic with producer MELVV. Within less than a year, the musician who releases music as Jordana has leveled up like Mario eating a Super Mushroom. “I’m definitely getting comfortable with doing whatever the fuck I want with music. That’s my vision—making it pop,” she recently said. And by “pop,” she means crunching all the genres from indie rock, hip-hop, and jazz into a enticing three-minute morsel.
Over thromping jingles led by bugging-out guitars, Jordana tests the water of her newly polished confidence. Songs like “Big” and “Hitman” sound like junkyard cars polished anew, where the interlocking of crunchy guitar riffs and fuzzy reverb sound revitalized against Nye’s silvery voice. Sometimes there’s a sense of danger that she veils in faster vocal delivery and playful yet dramatic chord shifts. “Anarchy is comforting when half the world is bourgeoisie,” she taunts on “Hitman.”
Jordana is hungry for a bigger and badder sound on Something to Say to You, and she’s at her best when she’s fully embraced that intensity. Take “Big,” where Nye’s voice is blown out a bit during the chorus. She’s loud without being overbearing with the single wielding the power of newfound confidence, and Nye is simultaneously excited and hesitant. “Live it full,” she announces before making room for her super-ego: “Be careful.” She continues this surge of power on “Far Away From You” and “Fuck You.” During both she examines poisonous relationships—on the former, she wishes she could go back in time to warn her younger self, but is ultimately empowered by letting go. On the latter she rips a tattooed liar to shreds with a perky ukulele.
Jordana is well on her way to perfecting a balanced bittersweetness. She’s crafted her own kind of melancholy that lives in the melodic indie rock of Death Cab and the brilliant pop of Sheryl Crow. The only downside of Something to Say to You is that the tender moments pale in comparison to her indie bangers. The hypnotic blogosphere rock of “Decline” washes out the poignancy of the coming-of-age introspection on “I Guess This Is Life.” That’s not to say Jordana doesn’t succeed in her more somber moments. The idea of mashing two EPs together might be nice on paper, but it creates a subtle crack in the album’s surface. However, Something to Say to You showcases Jordana as being comfortable with taking risks to figure out what works best for her—as all great songwriters do.
