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Photo Credit: Mariah Hamilton

Last year may have been brat summer but Alex Porat has declared that this summer will be crush summer. The Canadian’s latest EP, crushed!, is here to provide the perfect soundtrack for summer 2025. Porat announced the EP back in February and fans have been excitedly awaiting the full project ever since. Thankfully, Porat hasn’t held out on fans, releasing three singles prior to the release of the full EP: “Face Like Yours,” “Better Than That,” and “Blueprint.” These three singles gave a peek into the themes of young love that take listeners on a journey throughout crushed!.  

 “Face Like Yours” is the perfect opener for the EP. In it, Porat is closing the door on indie boys, no matter how pretty they are. Set to lively instrumentation featuring driving drums, Porat sings “What a waste of a face like yours / What a shame you were nothing more than a night to remember / A hand me down sweater / A future as dry as a desert.” The chorus continues with Porat singing “When you open up your mouth / Oh God I wanna die.” The realization has hit that while Porat's indie boy may be beautiful, he is lacking in substance and she’s ready to move on, and move on she does.  

The following song “Kissing You” is a perfect new crush anthem when even the briefest glance of your crush leaves you consumed with thoughts about kissing them. A rapidly strummed guitar underscores the song, perfectly reminiscent of the heart pounding that occurs when you see your crush. While “Kissing You” is full of euphoria and new beginnings, “Better Than That” has a hint of frustration to it, with the reveal of the perfect crush already having a girlfriend, but it turns out that the girlfriend is less than perfect. Right away, Porat is calling out her crush’s girlfriend singing “I see her out / Kissing other guys when you’re not around.” In the chorus she talks directly to her love interest, emphasising how much better of a match she is for them as she sings “I could never break, never break your heart / Hope that she fucks up / Baby I could love you better than that.”  

“Disaster” moves beyond the initial stages of a crush that we see in “Kissing You” focusing more on the moments after you get to know your crush and the resulting realization that being with this crush could be life-changing, in ways you never imagined. As Porat continues to take listeners through her romantic endeavors, she takes a moment to reflect on a past lover in “Brand New Heart.” Porat perfectly captures the feeling of seeing your ex at a party and then realizing that they’re actually doing just fine. Porat is so shocked at her ex’s transformation she asks “Did you get a brand new heart? / Light years between who you were and who you are.”  

As the EP comes to an end, so does Porat’s journey navigating through love, as she has found herself with her perfect partner. In the EP’s final song “Blueprint,” Porat reflects on her partner’s qualities that make him so perfect, that make him the blueprint. In soft airy vocals she sings “And I hope that it’s you / But if you aren’t who I spend forever with / At least you left me this / Baby you’re the blueprint.” Porat is looking at a potential end of the relationship through a mature and positive lens; even if it comes to an end she’ll be grateful to be left with a standard, a blueprint, to measure future partners against.   

crushed! takes listeners through all different stages of love and is the perfect soundtrack for crush summer.