ALBUM REVIEW: U BY UNDERSCORES

I was unfortunately a little late to the Underscores party, only really discovering her music about 6 months ago (shout out Mic the Snare’s Record Pull for posting “Johnny Johnny Johnny"). But I’m doing my best to make up for lost time. I’ve spent these months taking in as much of her work as I can and leave each experience impressed. She hasn’t let me down yet - everything from her music and lyrics, to the A+ music videos she directs and edits herself to her fashion choices and persona has me hooked. In such a short period, Underscores has become one of my favorite artists ever and the main pop girl in my house.

All of that being said, I was highly anticipating the release of her third full album, U. And of course, as with everything else she’s done, it exceeded my expectations. The album at its core is a succinct and more straightforward pop record, running for only 9 tracks and 34 minutes. A bit different than her first two albums Fishmonger and Wallsocket, which leaned more on story building and genre pushing experimentation. Wallsocket, in particular, is a sprawling concept album that feels like a work of fiction, the feelings expressed although her’s are hidden behind the facade of “lore”. The feelings U belong to her and are expressed as her own, a real step up in emotional vulnerability. Her expression of her emotions is massively successful, I find myself deeply affected by and really resonating with what she’s saying even when it’s different from my reality. She’s able to succinctly deliver her emotions in her lyrics with the perfect balance, not being too diaristic or too metaphorical and flowery. Her energy is confident and thoughtful, exploring her feelings on fame, relationships and the complex dynamics of her passions.

One of the major themes I picked up is a clear expression of a push-pull dynamic with her desires to connect to another person. In “Lovefield” she laments her inability to feel a romantic connection to a person in her life who feels that way about her, and the awkwardness and dissatisfaction that makes her feel. It captures a distance and longing for connection, but a feeling that she can’t quite get there. “Do It” discusses her questioning the intentions of a person who would be interested in her, her inability to be fully trusting because of her notoriety and how the pursuit of putting herself fully into her music can be limiting. In it, she expresses she would rather be with someone who doesn’t know her at all in order to protect herself - but this is a choice that could come with the consequence of limiting her growth and experience (“It’s all on the line for me / You could ruin everything / Or you could make me somebody new”). It’s all in service of her real true love, the music (“I just can’t do it / I’m married to the music, baby”) an idea that is similarly expressed in the aptly named track “Music” wherein she equates the physical and emotional responses one has to music to feelings of romantic or sexual love. At its core, she’s saying that the feelings and connection she has with other’s could never compare to the level of passion she feels about music. And it’s moving - everyone should try and take inspiration from the way she speaks about music with such passion and desire and apply that to their own true loves. She’s fully committed to the game, it’s music that makes her feel this way so how could she commit herself to anyone else?

While a lot of pop music today can feel shallow, U has a soul and a perspective that feels distinctly human. It feels cool and hip and fun and the moments that feel inspired by the past (like the moments in “Wish U Well” that sound like a 1990s pop r&b hit from the likes of TLC or Janet Jackson) do so without being nostalgic or leaning too heavily on reference. You can love the song without knowing what came before it, and every reference feels like a fresh take on the past without being derivative. Any of these songs would be massive hits in the hands of a major pop star and so many people would benefit from this energy being added to their work. Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande should be beating down her door to try and get her to produce and write for them. If they were smart, Justin Timberlake’s team would be on the phone with Underscores right now to have her produce his next attempt at a comeback album.

It would feel like an oversight not to mention that U is really a one-woman show. In addition to Underscores writing, producing, mixing and mastering the entire album herself, she also directed and edited four music videos and created a distinct visual language for the album and its era with its upside-down headphones “U” and instantly recognizable headphone shaped bleach pattern in her hair. This is really her vision from start to finish, a rarity in today’s world of creative directors, songwriters and production teams. She’s not given massive budgets for video production or studio time, she has to make the most of what she has and be creative in her choices, pushing her to stick to her ideas and follow them through. It adds a DIY ethos to the album which is something I always love to see.

The last time I felt this excited for the future of music after the release of an album was in 2008 when I heard 808s and Heartbreak for the first time. I thought that album was going to change music forever (and in reality it did). It also reinforced Kanye’s artistic confidence and kicked off a decade where he felt he could follow and trust his artistic passions and the fans would be there with him. U should absolutely be the album that does the same for Underscores. She should feel confident doing whatever she wants with her music and art. If her next album continues in this pop-heavy direction, returns to a more experimental sound, or goes somewhere totally brand new, I’ll be excited to hear whatever she comes up with. If she wants to direct movies or make music videos, her directing and editing work for the videos from this album is excellent and I’d be stoked to see them. If she wants to work with and produce for other artists, this album feels like it should be a perfect package ready to be delivered to any pop star looking for a fresh sound. If we’re lucky, this album too will change music forever. It’s the new wave of the future of pop.

U BY UNDERSCORES
RELEASED 3/20/26
MOM + POP MUSIC

RATING: 9.3/10
FAVORITE TRACKS: BODYFEELING, THE PEACE, LOVEFIELD

Some more highlights for me are the Imogen Heap-esque “The Peace” that explores Underscores’ dynamic with a love interest through experiences with shared cigarettes, and “Bodyfeeling,” a future pop classic that touches again on the complications that her music-based lifestyle can cause in a relationship while succinctly describing the physical reactions her feelings create and how at times she has to ignore her gut in service of what she wants. The only song that is a kind of misstep for me is “Hollywood Forever” - even though calling it a misstep is really too strong. I think it suffers by being a good song on an incredible album, especially having to follow up two banger singles (“Tell Me (U Want It)” and “Music”) on the track list. Independent from the album as a whole the song is totally fun but when hearing the album through it felt like a decrease in energy and a buildup without enough payoff. Lyrically it has some really great moments and “Don’t bury me in Hollywood Forever” is a fun line, it just didn’t blow me away on the level of everything else. She did make up for it though with the pop up U-haul DJ set at the actual Hollywood Forever Cemetery, still kicking myself for not making the drive to LA for it.

Underscores goes personal with the artwork too, a warped rendering of the Stonestown Galleria mall as depicted by the Japanese artist Ochiai Shohei (whose work I had been seeing online for years and always thought someone should use for album art…glad to see I was proven right). She had expressed that the album was inspired by places a person would visit in transit, like airports, malls and hotels. Framing the visuals in a place from her hometown feels like you’re visiting one of the places she was imagining while making the album. She uses the Stonestown Galleria in one of my favorite elements of the rollout too, the livestream that dropped with the album. In it, Underscores lip syncs and dances to the entire album while running through the empty mall. It was a creative way to allow us, the fans, to experience the album for the first time together and because it was live it felt like she was involved too. It was like everyone that took the time and cared enough to tune in were the people who were most excited for the release and we were all pushing and manifesting her success going into the new era. And in return it felt like our pop girl cared about us enough to put in the extra effort to create this experience for us all to share.