“We accept the love we think we deserve.” If you’ve read or watched Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, there is no more sobering epiphany than realising you’ve overstayed your welcome in a fruitless, toxic relationship. This plays on Blondshell’s mind as she pours 25 years of her life into her debut record, seeking to heal herself while also healing listeners.
Sabrina Teitelbaum’s musical influences are poignant throughout ‘Blondshell’, from Britpop to grunge, she injects new energy into alternative rock. A nod to The Smashing Pumpkins, the empowering ‘Sepsis’ feels like a mic-drop midway through the album. Echoing the Chbosky quote, Blondshell holds herself accountable as she humorously repeats, “it should take a whole lot less to turn me off”. In hindsight, she spares no excuses for those who mistreated her, and there is an anger within that continuously strives for self-respect. Sabrina reminds us so effortlessly about valuing self-worth and not allowing your feelings to be dismissed under any circumstances.
But this isn’t exclusively a record about failed relationships. Channelling her pain unashamedly through explosive sounds, Sabrina highlights the perils of addiction in all its forms. ‘Olympus’ opens a dialogue about her queerness, Los Angeles, and being addicted to a person along with their mutual substance abuse. It’s dark to feel such a dependency on a person, and as debilitating as it is, Blondshell clings to the hope that she wants to get better.
There’s no other way to describe the beauty and tragedy in the atmospheric ‘Sober Together’. Like a non-judgemental friend you can call on in your darkest hour, Blondshell is ready to help out of pure love and empathy while still enforcing the boundaries necessary to protect herself and not fall down that path again.
Pure catharsis permeates Blondshell’s album as she releases and purges a side of herself that was muted and hidden away for a long time. Having once attempted to mould herself into a pop singer in order to be more palatable to mainstream listeners, she could only dream of sharing the complexities of her upbringing in New York City and the intricacies of her life since moving to Los Angeles in song form. Despite remaining in LA after dropping out of music school as a teen, the influence of these cities heavily spills into her record, from ‘Joiner’ to ‘Veronica Mars’.
Opening with intense musings and ending with calm introspection, Blondshell’s debut is therapeutic as much as it’s a euphoric alt-rock record. Confronting trauma, seeking healing, and promoting self-worth with her sharp lyricism, Sabrina has created a bold body of work, exciting and unfiltered, as she navigates the highs and lows of her life up to this point.
9/10
Words: Sahar Ghadirian
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