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Photo By: Shelby Schumitzky

Having a crush on someone can be all-consuming. It starts with texting back and forth while overthinking every reply, knowing not to invest too much of yourself into something so new. Yet you also want to believe that this time might be different. You begin to let your walls down and start daydreaming about them sitting in the passenger seat of your car, driving to a location that is truly irrelevant, as long as they're by your side. But then suddenly, you stop at a red light and realize that you haven't heard from them in a couple days and start to spin out over why that might be. Did you say something wrong? Did you not say enough? You check their Instagram to check if they've posted lately and they have. You decide it's over. The two of you will never talk again. And you stand by that, until they text you and you fall all over again. In her debut EP, Work of Art, Caity Krone perfectly encapsulates the process of allowing someone to shape your life due to unrequited love, and all of the highs and lows that follow.

Krone starts the EP by being incredibly self-aware on the title track, which is accompanied by a music video that brings each word to life. She sings the opening lines, "Could have been a painter / Could have studied law / Instead you are my paintbrush / You're my curriculum," letting you know that she isn't oblivious to her fixation on her crush. During the first verse we see Krone as an excited college student on campus, an agitated cheerleader on a football field, and a sophisticated woman swinging at a farm. According to Krone, these characters symbolize being the object of affection in the eye of your crush, being jealous that you're not the one they're fixated on and being the idealized version of yourself hoping to win them over, respectively. As we reach the chorus we realize that Krone is involved in a love triangle of sorts, as she sings, "You say she's a work of art / You pick her up from school / But she blows you off / Don't you know you're all I want." During the chorus we also meet a new character that has her face painted in various colors, which is representative of you being enough as your true self, flaws and all.

As the song continues, the instrumentation on the track builds with the addition of electric guitar, percussion, and piano, which peaks during the instrumental bridge. Throughout the video there are bits of footage that were recorded on film that add a vintage-y feel, adding a certain timelessness to both it and the song. "Work of Art" functions as self-admittance of behavior, while also being confessional about feelings for a crush. "The song leans into the more jarring and creepy parts of having a crush, and the less graceful bits of wanting attention from someone who is fixated on someone else," Krone says. The outro gives listeners closure as she decides to choose herself as she sings, "So I went back to school / Stopped drinking coffee / And talking to Molly / I spent four months writing this record about you / I'm sorry." The last two lines are instrumental in kicking off the rest of the record, as Krone takes ownership over her narrative.

"Hotel on a Mountain," the second track on the EP, furthers the story. Uptempo, fingerpicked, acoustic guitar initially sets the flippant tone of the song, as you could listen to the instrumental intro on repeat while shaking your hips and wagging your finger to the beat. Krone's vocal holds an underlying attitude, that is only heightened by the lyric, as she sings, "But you live in a hotel on a mountain / Thanks for gracing us with your time." "Hotel on A Mountain" seems to be reaffirming for Krone, knowing she deserves more. Followed up by "Thank You for the Sunday Paper," we experience a new level of intimacy from Krone. While the previous two tracks felt a bit cheeky, yet sincere, this is the first time that we're experiencing her with all of her walls down, vulnerable and raw. The instrumentation consists of only piano, as Krone reminisces, singing, "When our friends talk about you it’s hard to drown them out / Because borrowing your dreams has left me lonely now / And I lost a part of myself that’s begging to be found." Thematically, "Thank You for the Sunday Paper" enhances the message that often the hardest decisions are usually the right ones.

The 4th song on the EP, "21," is an interlude of sorts, being both the shortest song and the only one not containing a chorus. Krone wrote it shortly after her 21st birthday, while reflecting on the life that she had created for herself and realizing that she wasn't where she wanted to be within her relationships. The arrangement of the electric guitar and percussion, set the tone of frustration towards herself, while the lyric exposes insecurity, as she sings, "Could I have played my cards differently baby? / Could I have shown you how you wanted to treat me? / No." She was surrounding herself with people she didn't like just so she wouldn't feel alone, "There was a phase / Where I’d let anyone come around just to take up space."

The last song on the record, "I've Been Lonely" brings us to a place of dream-like whimsy. The combination of the strummed acoustic guitar, piano, percussion, and banjo create a light atmosphere that supports Krone's vocal in the most delicate of ways. The song could soundtrack anything between driving down the PCH with the sunset on the horizon to twirling around the kitchen as you make dinner for a party of one. Throughout the EP, Krone has seemed to hold herself back from imagining what it would be like to actually be with her crush. This is the first time we hear her allow herself to dream, as she sings, "So hold on to me tight / We’re gonna take on the world / I’ll be your baby and we’re gonna take on the world." This song is the sonic representation of what it feels like when your crush looks at you in the hallway in school, or bumps knees with you under the table at lunch, and the explosion of butterflies in your stomach ensues. While this song seems to be about another person, you could also interpret it as Krone falling back in love with herself, after trying to change herself for someone else.

Throughout these five songs we are taken through each stage of having a crush: butterflies, infatuation, idealization, jealousy, and finally the strength it takes to let it go and come back to yourself, when you know you deserve more. Krone explains, "'Work of Art is about the way a person can sometimes feel like the undercurrent of your entire life." She continues, "About adoring them while also being overly critical of them to try and shake yourself out of wanting them, about finding ways to reclaim your own confidence, your own magic, because it feels like you've had it all on the back burner for so long." People often struggle to convey their feelings about a person that they loved, but were never really with, because the feelings seem invalid. Work of Art is a testament to the legitimization of those feelings, making everyone that listens feel more secure within themselves.