Album Review: Some Things Never Leave by Annabelle Dinda
- Maddie Pieper
- 10 hours ago
- 8 min read
I’ve been listening to Annabelle Dinda since her song “Blunt Force and Bomb Dog” showed up on my Spotify daylist in 2025. She brings a certain aching intensity to her music that feels so refreshingly honest in our current era of overproduced hits. Overall, I give this album a solid 9/10, so if you’re a fan of alternative folk rock, please check it out!
Dinda's song “The Hand” went viral on TikTok with a whopping 15.8 million views, and every single comment seems to be about her lyricism. After listening to this album, I have to say I agree. She writes like a poet, but even that seems like an enormous oversimplification. What makes Annabelle Dinda stand out is that she’s both an incredible writer and musician. In this album, she’s played guitar, percussion, piano/keys, and produced it all, showing that she’s definitely got the skills to fulfill her vision. It’s been a while since I’ve been this impressed by an artist, and I highly recommend listening to her when you’ve got a chance.
Key Takeaways
Lyrics
The first thing you notice about Annabelle Dinda’s songs is the lyrics, and I cannot express how brilliant her word choice is. Each line feels extremely intentional, focusing on articulation, stressed and unstressed syllables, and nearly every possible literary device you can cram into a phrase. The prosody and cadence of each lyric almost become their own rhythm instrument, separate from the vocal melody itself. Additionally, Dinda makes sure these songs are more than just pretty words, and each one tells a fantastical, disjointed story full of imagery and nostalgia. At the end of the album, I wasn’t sure whether to reach for a dictionary or call my therapist.
I also need to take a minute to discuss her scientific and mythological references, since her songs are full of them. It’s really fascinating as a listener, because it’s hard to tell how much of this allusion is purposeful and how much is me overthinking everything. Either way, it adds a new complexity to each song. “Cosmic Microwave Background” is all about the microwave radiation everywhere in the universe, “Doesn’t Matter” mentions ibuprofen (a blood thinner) in a very bloody song, and “To Reconcile” mentions the old riddle of what weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of lead. I was really impressed by how many references she managed to cram in, and I'm still left wondering how many other ones I missed. It was a fun and interesting change from how artists normally talk about heartbreak and humanity.
Vocals
She has a very distinctive voice that feels super raw and bright, with an almost whiny quality (in the best way). On a technical level, her songs are full of vocal flips and some serious breath control, which feels just as intentional as her lyrics.
Another important thing to mention is the album's overall tone. All of these songs are absolutely brutal and sad, but she sings these lyrics almost gleefully. This fervent conviction complicates what would otherwise be a plain-old sad song, creating an equally cathartic and unsettling effect.
Instruments
My last technical takeaway was her use of silence and repetition. Dinda's not afraid of repetition like so many other poetic songwriters and also doesn’t fall into the trap of overfilling her songs. The instrumentation and arrangement of each song feel very purposeful, and they really allow her vocals and lyrics to shine. One of the most important things to learn as a musician is when to shut up, and I think she did a phenomenal job deciding when and how to include instruments. The album itself is pretty instrumentally stripped, with the basic guitar, keys, percussion, and some strings. I think the only time she included any bass was in her song “The Hand.”
Song Breakdown
Big News Day
I thought this was a perfect album opener. It’s upbeat, it sets the album's sound, and it leaves room for the other songs to get more complicated.
This is also one of her more grounded songs, where she talks about terrible Tuesdays, pajamas, pasta, and texting her friends. This song did grow on me over time, as I preferred some of her more introspective songs about the universe, but it’s catchy, human, and incredibly relatable (at least to me).
Cosmic Microwave Background
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a physics nerd, but I absolutely love this song and its connection to relic radiation and the Big Bang.
Something about the sibilance and alliteration of the first few lyrics is so satisfying, and her rhyming is also just so, so good.
The song also has a great build and a very intense conclusion. My favorite bit might be the little “ah-ah-ah-ah” break near the end.
This isn't the title track, but the album's title is in the main refrain of "Some things never go, some things never leave."
Doesn’t Matter
This is also one of my favorites. I don’t think I’m smart enough to even begin to figure out what’s happening with the story, but there’s something about the melody and phrasing that makes it so catchy.
The second verse flows into the chorus really well, and the assonance/slant rhyme between "blood," "open," "ocean," and "potion" is an excellent touch.
I also love a song with a nice long ending, and I thought this was such a great wind-down to a very mournful song.
Out of all the songs, I've probably listened to this one the most. It just stuck with me, and I love it so much.
Satellites
This song hurts. The ending chorus and harmonies are really nice to listen to, in a very painful, upsetting way.
I also think her lyric choice and analogies really shine here.
This is also one of the more subdued songs on the album, with fewer drums and less of the forceful momentum of the other tracks. It definitely has its own quiet presence, though.
This song also has its harmonies come in later in the track, which add to the build/conclusion.
Everyone Likes to Be Forgiven
I love that the drums on this song come in and out, giving space for the vocal moments. It has the same characteristics as the rest of the album, with a strong build-up and a kind of keening ending.
This song relates to her other song “The Hand” because it shares the same feeling of an objective, unsympathetic observation of the self. Or maybe someone else? I think that’s left a bit up to interpretation.
I think I've listened to this song so much that I've started using the term "either way" far more frequently than I used to.
Probably one of the most brutal lyrics on the album of "What is a life? It's only lethal."
Gunpoint, Headlock
Once again, one of my favorites on the album, mostly because the dissonant violin and the drums at the end are so awesome.
The whole "I'm not quiet I am loud and new" bridge is so awesome to listen to and definitely adds into the very fervent vocal theme she has throughout the album.
The backing vocals melodies on this track also stood out to me. I’m not sure if there’s a low-pass filter or what on them, along with some heavy reverb, but they sound cool!
The song also ends with the introductory lines of each verse, which was a fun way to structure the outro. It sort of reaffirms how the story develops throughout the song and is a nice callback to the poetic structure she follows.
The Hand
I’ll spend some extra time on this song since it went viral. When it was officially released, many people on TikTok disliked the production and preferred the original TikTok's raw vocals.
I have several thoughts about how listeners view 15-second viral clips and how they’ll never be satisfied with a full song, but that’s a topic for another blog.
Apparently, the biggest gripe that people have with this song is the production and loudness of the drums. I think they’re all completely wrong and that the drums are perfect and also integral to this song.
For one, the drums are completely FILTHY! There are these high snares and some weird splash/dry china cymbals that I can’t quite hear right since the decay is all cutoff. Either way, the drums have a merciless backbeat that drags you along and adds unbelievable momentum. If I had to pick a favorite instrumental part of this entire album, it would be this drum part.
This is a really nerdy thing to mention, but there’s no cymbal at the entrance to the chorus, which creates this really awesome build and gives room for the whole song to grow.
This song is definitely about sexism, misogyny, and the frustrating experience of gender roles and our patriarchal society. It’s a great song and commentary, and I can very easily see why it went viral.
To Reconcile
Playing this song right after “The Hand” has some crazy contrast. Gone are the (awesome) drums and forceful guitar. It’s a ballad comprised of vocals and piano and really shows Annabelle Dinda’s range.
She asks some really brutal questions through the classic riddle of a pound of feathers versus a pound of lead and uses this constant theme of juxtaposition in the piece. Hands down the best line for me was "If a feather weighs the same as lead, why's one floating and one shooting dead?".
It’s very skillful that the album's melancholic tone and lyrical/melodic structure persist in this song. I think this more stripped song really shows what the album is all about at its core, before you start to stack all the other instruments and production on top of it.
The Body Remembers
We return to the guitar! This is also one of my favorite songs, since I think the simple guitar instrumentation really reflects how Annabelle Dinda writes her songs.
Such a great intro, I love the vocal flip on "fetal on the floor". This song uses a ton of slant rhymes and alliteration.
There's this consistent sense of detachment from "The Body Remembers" when it's not that you, your body, or your mind remembers, but instead it's "the body". It becomes something separate from you.
The drums and synth come in and out halfway through the song and are so good. It’s the same roomy, grunge drum sound, and I’m such a fan. Somehow, these heavy drums connect really well with the guitar and folk vocals, and it seems like there would be a genre clash, but instead, it just works.
You need to listen to this bridge; I'm not even going to try to describe it or compliment it. What a bridge.
London Plane Trees
What a closing song. I feel like it talks a lot about the weight of living and what it means to be human. It’s raw, complicated, and existential, which about sums up the entire album.
The repeated refrain of “I get it” feels both comforting and inevitable, and that sort of encapsulates all the mess of people and their emotions. I would say it’s a song about the brutality of life and death, and it makes me wonder if to be human is to be dissatisfied.
The first verse saying "what can kill us will become us" is actually staggering. What.
Ultimately, this is the song that leaves listeners with questions and thoughts to grapple with, prompting you to contemplate everything you know long after the album ends.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, I think this is a fantastic no-skips album. I'll let you all draw your own interpretations of what the lyrics mean, but I love all the structural and stylistic choices she made. I feel like I was listening to a masterclass in musical poetry. If you like this album, I recommend looking at her other songs "Blunt Force and Bomb Dog," "Love Lines," "Good Things," and "Logging Field." I'm really excited to see what Annabelle Dinda does next!
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