Album Review: U by underscores

Maddie Pieper
5 hours ago
7 min read

If you haven't already listened to this album, I need you to go listen to it right now. It's fun, it's beautiful, it takes you on a sparkly joyride that somehow stays true to underscores' iconic sound and also explores the pop genre even more.

I would say this album is much more pop leaning than Wallsocket or fishmonger, and it focuses more on glitchy, controlled production than some of the chaotic noise that I personally love from underscores' past work. However, there are still plenty of amped-up absolute bangers that are everything I could've wanted in a song. There's not a single skip on this album, and I have had it on repeat for the last two weeks.

Tell Me (U Want It)

Beautifully glitchy, a fun little synth, and a big spacey noise!!!
This track is in 12/8, which feels like 4/4 but is subdivided into triplets rather than two beats, which you can feel if you count 1-2-3 really fast in each beat. It definitely adds to the momentum and is a fun choice for an opening track!!
It's all stutters, echoing vocals, autotune, claps, and the most well-executed swells and drops I've heard this year. This entire album just makes you want to dance. So good. I wish it was longer, but I understand that this is a beautiful, short album.

Music

This song is so EDM-coded and reminds me of like 2010 Skrillex or like Cascada. There's just so many dubstep references, a crazy beat, and a perfect entrance into the chorus with glitch vocals.
This one is probably one of my favorites on the album, as I really like the slow build into the last chorus and the crazy synth happenings throughout. It doesn't adhere to a normal pop song format, rather leaning heavily into old EDM and pulling it off masterfully. I think you could listen to this entire album on an iPod Touch with the terrible wired headphones and have a fantastic time.

Hollywood Forever

This is another one of my favorites from the album, but I'm starting to think a lot of these songs are my favorite, but that's okay. It starts a bit slower but still has a driving kick drum and fun little sounds throughout. The beginning is all pop, but then it somehow becomes a perfect club song by the end of it with the added claps and drill sounds.
The song then winds down a bit more to just beautiful vocals and guitar, but the entire middle is just pure dance. We once again are following far more of an EDM or hyperpop song and lyrical structure than anything seen in a standard pop song.

The Peace

We have the coolest vocoder backing vocals that set the entire beat of the song. This is probably why this song is also one of my favorites (the entire album is my favorite). It also just builds so well with the harmonized vocals, and there's no real drums on this track. However, a lot of the breaths actually work as drums, which is so creative and masterfully done.
I feel like this entire album is so imaginative, and just the right side of experimental where the sound is still cohesive, but the structure and instrumentation are incredibly creative. This song does not have the same hyperpop drive or EDM build as other songs on this track, but it has its own weight and confidence that makes me want to listen to it over and over again.

Innuendo (I Get U)

We get a lot of fun synth whines and stabs from this song, which is a completely different vibe-shift from "The Peace". We have such good gun cocks, heavy bass, and it's just so so so catchy. The production on this track is so well balanced, which can be hard to do when you're trying to balance vocals and lyrics with so many other Big sounds.
The buildup is mostly whispering and ?? squiggles? of synth before just throwing us into the end verse and chorus. Unlike some of the other songs on this album, there's no complete pause before the drop, and you're just led into the synth chorus and backing vocals without any bracing introduction. I love it.

Lovefield

I love this song!! Another favorite. It's just such a slow intro that has you waiting in anticipation for a drop, but it might be more like "The Peace" and actually be slow. I like the sound effect responses to all the lyrics; they are so fun and make the song so much more interesting.
The chorus is so ballad coded, and you get to really enjoy her smooth, reverbed vocals. It makes the song feel a lot more intimate and like a quiet confession of unrequited love. Then all of a sudden, in the middle of the soft chorus, you're hit with a bunch of fun claps. I'm honestly not sure how to explain the drum entrance other than it feels like a confetti explosion and sparklers, which is when you get all the cool synth stabs and laser-sound effects. Then just when you're ready to dance, we drop back down to little snaps and do the entire synth riser build again with off-beat high hats.
Then the bass comes in with the entire confetti-explosion again. I love this song, it's lyrically so sad but it's sonically so fun and well done. It's like you tried to put on a sad song that takes you on a speedrun of joyous sounds and then slows it all down again at the end.

Do It

The sound effects on this album are just so perfect. I don't even know what half of these sounds are because the instrumentation is so experimental and distorted, but it sounds so good. I can't tell if everything is a synth or sample or what. The guitars are all chopped up and responded to with bass stabs throughout.
This is one of the songs that led up to the album, and it's just so good even if it's very distinct from some of her past work.
We have a lovely little breakdown with high synth sirens, and there's the common theme throughout the album of tension and release. We have a fun build and then a slowdown and then we do it again and again. The half-time bass ending chorus is so fun though, it might be one of the best little sections of this album. I also love the little fade-out at the end, it feels so 2010s.

Bodyfeeling

This song definitely grew on me, but it's so fun to listen back to. We have a nice slow intro again with the coolest vocal doubling and distortion. Then the bass and hats come in, and there's the same four on the floor kick that we've seen on the other club bangers. The guitar feels Mk.gee coded, and it's just so fun to see how underscores has pulled from so many influences for this entire album. The little high vocal gasps are also a great addition.
By the end of the song, the drums go crazy, and the instrumentation all comes in on beat 2 while the kick and bass stay steady. I love a little beat 2 entrance, which is such an indie song decision to make, and it just feels like you hold your breath for a little bit before you start dancing again.

Wish U Well

If I had to pick a favorite out of my favorites, it would be this song. It's very 2010 RnB coded, I think just with the specific sound of the acoustic guitar. But then we still have all the synth and autotuned vocals that we expect, so there's not too much of a distracting vibe shift.
I think this song just exemplifies all the perfect parts of this album. There's the pop ballad, the guitar samples, the synth bass, and ethereal spacey risers, and then claps and drums. The vocals of course are also incredible, but I haven't talked about those much because it's a given. It's a sincere song with an intro of fun sound effects and bites, and then we get these emo lyrics and a perfect conclusion. Ugh!!! The use of silence and complete short pauses before we enter every section is excellent, and the little gasps and background stutters are integral to the soundscape. It feels like if you took all of the heavy saturation and massive sounds of underscores previous work but then made it all purposeful without losing all of the fun noise. Like everything is incredibly done. Wow.

Final Thoughts

This album is like 100000000/10. It's a complete masterclass of how to mess around with composition and instrumentation to explore genres and reference other artists' work. Underscores somehow also does this without sacrificing any of her own sound and unique style, which is just so difficult to do. The creativity that this must have taken to think of all of these arrangements is like mind-boggling to me.

The production and vocals are of course top notch, which was expected given her massive hyperpop background, but the intentionality of every sound effect, riser, and harmony shine through the entire album. In some hyperpop songs, you can literally throw whatever you want on top of a bass and autotuned vocals, but this album feels like the exact opposite of that chaos. It's like a little time-capsule blend of nostalgia and modern pop. Everything is perfectly chosen and timed, and it's definitely paid off, given the big critic and fan response to this album. The entire thing is so impressive, so please listen as soon as you get a chance. I want her to win one million awards for this.