Empty your minds and open them up to new ideas. Princess Nokia has arrived with a new project. Following the animated, hyperpop-tinted I Love You But This Is Goodbye, Nokia emerges with Girls, a venomous, daring, and vulnerable LP that challenges established norms and fearlessly transforms pain into uplifting anthems and heartfelt poetry. If you’ve ever listened to any album from Nokia, you know her music is nothing but a reflection of her current state of mind. From heartbreaking explorations into mental illness to detailing childhood trauma, Nokia has never shied away from laying her soul bare, and her latest is no different.
Girls already feels like a breakthrough moment for Nokia, the time where her expansive sonic taste is condensed into a honed project. Not that any of her previous releases had felt disjointed, but even as the artist leaps from pulsating pop to gritty Hip-hop, Girls never loses sight of its concept. Nokia’s typically deeply personal stories are as present as ever, as she delves into moments in her life that most would prefer to forget. Still, there is an air of anthemic undertones that points her emotions outward. Nokia is looking to inspire her fellow women, uplift those who have been hurt in similar ways, and she is doing so with the same infectious, singular energy that made her such an exciting artist to begin with.
Dating back to her debut as Nokia in 2017, the artist has used her turmoil to fuel her art in hopes of reaching fellow outsiders who feel the same. But as she states at the end of the criminally smooth and cinematic highlight, “Period Blood,” “People say ‘You’ve changed,’ and I say God, I hope so.” This acts as a warrior’s screech throughout Girls, as Nokia seems ready for a new era in her life and artistry. “Period Blood” is just one of the examples, along with hypnotically raw single “Blue Velvet” and the searing electronic undertones of “Medusa,” where Nokia flips the misogyny that has been bolstered by some of Hip-hop’s members right back at them, using impressive and honest rhyme schemes delivered by dark vocals.
It wouldn’t be a Nokia project if she didn’t make whiplash-inducing sonic turns. From the daring Hip-hop that starts the album, the artist transitions into pulsating dance tunes, like the heavy and groovy “Drop Dead Georgeous,” and the ethereal R&B of “Pink Bronco.” On previous releases from Nokia, these bold genre jumps left the concepts hanging in the air, Girls proved to be the artist’s most consistently satisfying release to date, with the concept of using soul-crushing realities to empower connecting Nokia’s lofty visions keeping intact throughout the sprawling tracklist.
Girls is the most confident, daring, and captivating Nokia has ever sounded, and she turns her maturity into a guiding light.
