"Honey" by Samia
Samia packs a specific punch in her Sophomore album “Honey”. Released January 27th, produced by Caleb Wright from the band Normal Parents, this intimate record is a macrocosm of emotions told through minute detail. With a more electronic sound than her debut “The Baby”, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter has enriched the devastation of her already poetic despair. This album feels more deliberate than her former work because it is dripping with symbolism and intention; Some songs are stripped down while others are layered to a point of invoking anxiety. Friends are name-dropped, word association games are played, and anecdotes are always uncensored. Samia has successfully made this record an intricate set design in which every prop fuels the central thesis: digging into the intricacies of pain will reward you in the end.
“Amelia” and “Breathing Song” are two songs that highlight Samia’s duality of introspection and reward. The latter track is an example of this album’s attention to detail. On Instagram, producer Caleb Wright writes: “We wanted it to be so painful and vulnerable that you’d only ever want to hear it once.” Thus, the artists stripped this song down to merely synth and vocals. The result is a nauseating song that is a constant struggle to get through.
Upon releasing “Breathing Song’, Samia was incredibly honest on Twitter, expressing how scared she was to tell this story. The song is about an abusive past relationship, which is expressed through Samia’s use of autotune to convey the dissonance that trauma creates. The songwriter’s repeating simple chorus of “No no no, no no no” builds up as the story does, ending with the lyrics “‘Samia, why would it matter what happened after you said-’ No, no, no, No, no, no, No, no, no.” During this last chorus, Samia is close to wailing. The background synth cuts out, the autotune heightens, and her pain seeps into the depths of your brain. Samia’s use of vocal manipulation and the simplicity of her instrumental accompaniments serve as more than aesthetic choices. Throughout “Honey,” they’re used as motifs to highlight the songwriter’s stories and the specific emotions that each provokes. “Breathing Song” shows this stripped-down side of the album. It’s a moment among many in which we have to sit with Samia’s lyrics. It’s a powerful creational tool that forces us to listen.
“Amelia”, the tenth track, shows us the rewarding side of “Honey.” It is perhaps the happiest song I’ve ever heard, and definitely the happiest song Samia has written. The chorus, a repetition of “Delight, to live another night”, is a happy contrast to the “I’ll fucking kill her, and I’ll fucking freak out” of the first track, “Kill Her Freak Out”. After going on Samia’s dark emotional journey for four months (as she began releasing singles in September of 2022, which mostly consisted of stripped-down tracks), this song comes at the beginning of our journey to the end of the album, with “Honey” (title-track) kicking-off this new energy. “Amelia” is confirmation of the light at the end of a tunnel that collapses behind us. It seems Samia has sat us down, fed us her pain as our own, but ultimately taught us our journey wasn’t for nothing; We can be loved.
Further highlighting the songwriter’s intentionality is her use of name-dropping in the first verse of this song. “Running up with Muriel to catch the last song”... “Caleb at the fire-pit scaling the beyond.” This method of song-writing creates a deep intimacy and allows the listener to experience Samia’s joy with her, almost making her friends their own. The final track maintains this intimate energy and holds my favorite line on the entire album. Entitled “Dream Song”, Samia sings “When I finally forgive myself/I'll be tired and sunburnt/Tripping over Spanish moss again.” After the journey of blame we’ve gone on, to hear of forgiveness and recovery is a deep release. Samia’s use of acoustic guitar after her emphasis on synth warms the soul and plants hope in the brain. After this album ends, we can tell Samia has gone on an authentic journey of forgiving herself and surrounding herself with love. We didn’t expect it, but she took us on this journey too.
It’s been wonderful to watch Honey’s growth in the world, from the first single to the album release exactly four months later. It’s especially been wonderful to watch Samia be so honest and loving towards her songs on Twitter and Instagram. The songwriter has a powerful ability to put authentic stories into the world and connect with the people who love them. She is a wonderfully compassionate artist, responding to fans’ messages, sending them letters about her songs, and not being afraid to cry over her successes. Her allure is her message that we’re all people populating a world, and our purpose is to help each other through. It’s a wonderful community-building perspective on music that makes “Honey” a wonderful album and an intimate adventure to go on. I recommend that everyone listen to it. It’s a good reminder that sometimes we have to wade through grief to find an ocean of love.
-Liv Stripling