After her 2018 project Super Sunset, Allie X recently dropped Cape God. The album includes 12 songs in which she shares her unfiltered thoughts and feelings. Prior to the release, Allie X dropped a few singles early to give fans an idea of the theme of the album: an inside look at the life of an outsider. The intro song, “Fresh Laundry,” along with “Devil I Know” were instant hits before the album came out.
Allie X featured Troye Sivan on “Love Me Wrong” and indie-rock star Mitski in “Susie Save Your Love.”
The Canadian singer reveals the dark side of her soul in Cape God. She has ditched the high use of electronic instrumentals and layered vocals and delivered a more authentic, revealing side to her.
Allie X is nothing short of a fashion icon, who has never been afraid to go out of her comfort zone with clothing or makeup. Her boldness is clearly conveyed in her cover art. The indie rockstar often bleaches her eyebrows, and her hair is always different. She is the queen of versatility when it comes to her image, and most people are afraid to try the fashion choices she makes on the regular. She conveys this feeling of being out of the ordinary and hard to understand throughout Cape God.
Although Allie is a woman who strays from stereotypes when it comes to her looks, music and personality, she has told several media outlets that the theme of Cape God is mostly related to the experiences of her younger years.
Cape God is full of Allie’s confessions and what it’s like in her head to be an outsider looking in and struggling to fit in.
“Life of the Party”
A song that stands out compared to the rest of the album is “Life of the Party” because the rest of the songs mostly focus on an outsider’s personal thoughts. It’s the most upbeat and confident song on the album. She sounds like she is at a party, having a blast and not caring one bit about what the people around her think of her.
The bridge of “Life of the Party” is beautiful and personal and hints at a past traumatic experience, as Allie quietly sings: “Oh, I'll never forget / I don't want to forget / Oh, I want to forget …”
“Regulars”
“Regulars” has a fantastic hook, with the strumming of the guitar and her creating a melody with her voice that makes the song too catchy to skip. The song shows the central theme of the album, which is struggling to fit in. She sings about how great it feels for her to fit in when she has been an outsider her whole life. There are also some sarcastic lyrics, though, which indicates that Allie may still not truly feel like she belongs.
The song opens with Allie sarcastically singing: “Out in public / ’Cause I learned a new trick now / See, I’m laughing / Don’t I look so happy now? Oh, wow,” which hints that her new, social personality may be a facade.
“Learning in Public”
“Learning in Public” is another deeply personal song in which Allie expresses how it feels to be someone who struggles socially and how it affects her peers, who do not understand what goes through her mind. She sings about the fact that she knows she is flawed after learning a lot, but there is still more learning to do.
Allie X executes apologetically: “I didn't mean to make you unhappy / I didn't mean to change without letting you know / I felt that I could take, take you with me / But did you slip away, or did I let go?” The indie-rock singer is apologizing to someone close to her for being hard to understand.
In Cape God, Allie X admirably gives a voice to people who typically do not speak up about their feelings. She has been in the industry for years, but this album has the most raw emotion of any of her work. She made sad situations sound beautiful. The production, the lyrics and the voice were all blended well, and she killed it.
Rating: 4.5/5
