{"id":348118,"date":"2026-03-19T23:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/348118\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T23:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T23:08:12","slug":"underscores-u-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/348118\/","title":{"rendered":"underscores, ‘U’ Album Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost five years ago to the day, underscores<\/a>\u2019 April Harper Grey told us exactly who she wanted to be: \u201cI\u2019m a pop star, baby,\u201d she brags on \u201cspoiled little brat,\u201d the tinny, pop-punk banger from her 2021 debut fishmonger. \u201cspoiled little brat\u201d is the only fishmonger song underscores performed on her most recent tour outing when she opened for Danny Brown. Is that because it\u2019s an instant crowd-pleaser and fan-favorite? Or is it because underscores was signaling to her audience exactly what to expect from her in the future?<\/p>\n

U, underscores\u2019 third album, is Grey\u2019s lean and mean bid for pop stardom. Gone are the proggy, conceptual arcs of 2023\u2019s wallsocket. U hits all the beats of a classic pop record\u2014a choreo-primed single, a power ballad, a post-breakup closure anthem\u2014without overstaying its welcome. It\u2019s glossy and stylized, but it never sacrifices the zoomed-up, post-genre, chaos-prone quirks of her earlier work. The goal here is maximum impact in a slimmed-down package.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Take the album\u2019s three singles: \u201cMusic,\u201d \u201cDo It,\u201d and \u201cTell Me (U Want It).\u201d On the one hand, these songs are spiritual successors to the wallsocket bonus track \u201cStupid (Can\u2019t run from the urge).\u201d They\u2019re jittery electro-pop bangers built off 8-bit synths, hardened for impact. Still, underscores\u2019 music has never quite sparkled like this before. Even with their hyperpop tricks\u2014like a techno pivot to close out \u201cTell Me\u201d or an EDC-ready drop on \u201cMusic\u201d\u2014U\u2019s singles feel more Britney Spears\u2019 Blackout than Dylan Brady; more early Rina than Revengeseekerz<\/a>. The glitching out is not the point; the hooks, the style, and the pop star attitude are.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While wallsocket expanded outward, U digs deep into one spot. Part of this is by necessity. The album was primarily made while touring, and Grey\u2019s constant transit necessitated a streamlined approach to writing and recording. \u201cMy setup has gotten way simpler,\u201d she told Wonderland<\/a>, opting for a smaller audio interface and mic. The thrill, then, is in the way underscores works within these limits, making intricate, knotty pop out of familiar building blocks. \u201cInnuendo (I Get U)\u201d is all breath and warbles, like a BLACKPINK dance-break with the playfulness of peak Timbaland. \u201cLovefield\u201d grows out of a sweet little synth, looped into a bittersweet dance-pop outro. On \u201cThe Peace,\u201d underscores makes a meal out of a vocoder sample. She adds more and more layers of flattened, ultra-processed vocals until the bass finally kicks in. Its restraint and release is some of her most emotive, expressive production ever. Clearly, she can do a lot with a little. Though no one would call anything underscores has ever done \u201cminimal,\u201d U\u2019s songs are dense and tightly packed.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the album\u2019s most surprising moment is also its most basic. \u201cBodyfeeling\u201d is a four-on-the-floor stomper that wouldn\u2019t sound out of place on The 1975\u2019s I like it when You sleep. In some ways, it\u2019s the most \u201cnormie\u201d song underscores has ever made; there\u2019s no brostep drop<\/a> or spoken-word loop<\/a> to blur genre lines or give it any requisite hyperpop cred. Instead, she spits out vocal hiccups like Michael Jackson and rocks out with Mk.gee-worthy guitar tones. \u201cBodyfeeling\u201d sounds like underscores finally gave herself permission to make pure pop, no qualifier\u2014\u201dhyper\u201d or otherwise\u2014needed. Turns out, she\u2019s brilliant at it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the end of U, it\u2019s hard not to find underscores\u2019 bid for pop stardom incredibly convincing. She really can do it<\/a> all (pun slightly intended): the addictive hooks, the branding, the choreography. It\u2019s a festival-ready record for the kids that never take off their headphones. But, of course, to be a pop star is to only reveal a part of yourself. Pop stars are, at least in 2026, bound to certain expectations: build an era, curate an aesthetic, be both unknowable and also parasocially attainable. U is no exception, and that\u2019s both its greatest strength and greatest limitation. It doesn\u2019t aim for the scale and ambition of wallsocket. In its place are songs that, intentionally, have less at stake. Even at its most personal, the album is lovingly, beautifully plastic. wallsocket\u2019s emotional core came from its world, a place Grey created, narrated, and invited us into. U\u2019s emotional core comes from its transformation. April Harper Grey is Doing It, fulfilling the promise she made on \u201cspoiled little brat\u201d five years ago. She can be a pop star, and U makes you feel like you can be one too.<\/p>\n

Andy Steiner is a writer and musician. When he\u2019s not reviewing albums, you can find him collecting \u201880s Rush merchandise. Follow him on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n