i understand and—to an extent—agree with her claim that songs don't need much time to get their points across, that you don't always need >4 minutes to meaningfully conjure each feeling she can capture, and it works pretty well on this record. but i think it's telling that Nineteen on her mixtape debut and Capable of love from this record are simultaneously the most emotionally potent on each project... and the longest in runtime. some moments here ache for more space to spread their wings, even if the end result is still an album that has refreshing and lovely takes on drum and bass incorporated into shifting pop and r&b formulae.

Mosquito is without a doubt one of her best as well, where, alongside other highlights like True romance and Ophelia, the instrumental backing has both incredibly infectious percussion and low-end to give it enough drive, but there's these subtle electronic nods, sparkling synths thrown about, flashing lights that focus your eyes (ears) in order to absorb that hazy glow they offer up. in those moments, everything feels right, and the halcyon sensations that close each of them out envelopes your mind completely.

Feel complete, Nice to meet you (as much as i think Central Cee offers very little in his verse), and Feelings alternate even more with the relationship themes, and there's a good deal of lyrical depth to the first and lovely instrumental variety on the third courtesy of BNYX(!), but it is really that slow build into Capable of love (along with of course the bonus track with Ice Spice) that ends the whole thing so effectively.

that 'true' end to the album is infectiously beautiful—with subtle production flashes like the sketchbook writings and colorful swells that decorate its walls—and it just grabs hold most firmly those explored sensations of love and divides and distance. it's clear that PinkPantheress has had the capability to address that plenty well enough from the beginning of her career under that name, it just manifests more brilliantly than it ever has on that nearly four minute ballad; this album is built so deliberately to house that ending, and it's so much better for it.

the song ties such a bittersweet but fascinatingly expansive bow on the entire project, especially with only twenty-nine minutes preceding it. it's rightfully trim, and its epilogue with its ever-so-slight, cloying boastfulness is a nice addition—even if it may be in jest, opposite to the primary tracklist and Another life as a decisive introduction to that space. yet the whole vision of the album is clear; even if it's not the most inventive after her mixtape's initial successes, her style and slight iterations on it here form a succinct, subtle escapade, as breezy as the heartbeats that span its runtime.