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Catharsis comes in many forms, but for future pop star renforshort the act has always been synonymous with music. A near-lifelong musician who honed her craft in countless local bars while attending high school, she’s no stranger to sharing her sonic diary with those willing to listen. Yet in her debut album, dear amelia, the artist takes that sentiment to new heights, delivering a moving, ever-evolving portrait of coming of age and what it means to be broken but strong enough to pick up the pieces.

Honesty is at the heart of dear amelia. It’s an unfiltered honesty unafraid to delve into the deepest and darkest parts of the rising pop artist’s psyche, shining a light on bouts of depression, dissociation, anxiety, toxic romance, imposter syndrome, and more. While the subject matter is undeniably solemn, its delivery is never one-dimensional, swaying from heart-on-your-sleeve confessional moments of introspection to explosive surges of self-discovery. 

Opening on “i miss myself,” renforshort wastes no time in establishing the emotional framework of her world. The minimalistic ballad paints in deep hues of blue as her voice carries with it a tender yet firm resolve to fight feelings of self-erasure. It’s a noted contrast from the halcyon daze of “made for you” or the electrifying pulse of the Travis Barker-assisted “we’ll make this ok” and “hate the way you love me.” The latter in particular arrives as a standout moment, with renforshort serving up a heartbreaking cocktail of mixed emotions in between radio-ready hooks.\

Taken altogether, dear amelia is a testament to the promise of Gen Z’s genre-effacing pop. It eschews the tropes of the genre to tell a multifaceted story that allows itself the space to breathe—from the deep exhales of the earth-shattering anxiety present in “better off” to the airy breaths that bookend the album’s heartfelt closer “amelia.” And why shouldn’t it? Coming of age is rarely uniform so it’s only fitting that a project that details the pitfalls of growing up should sound as varied and diverse as the experience itself. 

Listen to dear amelia below and catch renforshort on the 'dear amelia' tour this fall: