Someone New | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 16, 2020 | |||
Length | 47:51 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | Chivi Chivi and Luminelle | |||
Producer | Valentin Ignat | |||
Helena Deland chronology | ||||
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“All the female characters in movies that I tended to identify with as a young girl were desirable women, and their position was often in relation to a man... It’s not from their subjectivity; they’re being described. [Writing this album], that wasn’t something that I wanted for myself—I wanted to find the main character.”
—Deland on themes in Someone New [1]
Someone New is the first full-length studio album by Canadian art pop musician Helena Deland.
Editors at AllMusic rated this album 3.5 out of 5 stars, with critic Marcy Donelson writing that "Deland's vulnerable voice helps make her self-conscious, searching commentaries all the more engrossing" on an album with "with subtly shifting sounds and structures". [2] Jess Wrigglesworth of Clash Music gave this album an 8 out of 10 for displaying Deland's "ability to combine woozy guitars with killer synths and endlessly catchy melodies". [3] In Exclaim!, Joe Bagel rated this album 9 out of 10, calling it "a confetti cannon filled with breakup roses" that is "a gestational document, thrilling to witness" for Deland's exploration of romantic relationships. [4] Editors of the publication chose it as the 39th best album of 2020, with Kaitlin Irving praising "evocative lyricism and melancholic guitar riffs [that] make the album so intoxicating, real and timeless, it may prove impossible to turn off". [5] Someone New was an album of the week at The Line of Best Fit, where reviewer Jay Singh gave it a 9.5 out of 10 and called it "a living, breathing entity" that "has a presence that lingers long after it’s finished". [6] In Loud and Quiet, Guia Cortassa rated Someone New 8 out of 10, stating that "Deland gets incredibly close to penning the perfect pop album for the current moment". [7] Writing for Pitchfork Media, Sophie Kemp rated this album a 7.9 out of 10, stating that "despite its frequent darkness and sullen mood, Someone New shudders with a digital glow" that "replicates the push and pull of a complicated relationship". [8] Steve Horowitz of PopMatters scored this release a 7 out of 10, noting the "ambitious and demanding" songwriting but also criticizing the lack of seriousness, continuing that a "lack of gravitas is also the album’s greatest flaw". [9]
Someone New | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 16, 2020 | |||
Length | 47:51 | |||
Language | English | |||
Label | Chivi Chivi and Luminelle | |||
Producer | Valentin Ignat | |||
Helena Deland chronology | ||||
|
“All the female characters in movies that I tended to identify with as a young girl were desirable women, and their position was often in relation to a man... It’s not from their subjectivity; they’re being described. [Writing this album], that wasn’t something that I wanted for myself—I wanted to find the main character.”
—Deland on themes in Someone New [1]
Someone New is the first full-length studio album by Canadian art pop musician Helena Deland.
Editors at AllMusic rated this album 3.5 out of 5 stars, with critic Marcy Donelson writing that "Deland's vulnerable voice helps make her self-conscious, searching commentaries all the more engrossing" on an album with "with subtly shifting sounds and structures". [2] Jess Wrigglesworth of Clash Music gave this album an 8 out of 10 for displaying Deland's "ability to combine woozy guitars with killer synths and endlessly catchy melodies". [3] In Exclaim!, Joe Bagel rated this album 9 out of 10, calling it "a confetti cannon filled with breakup roses" that is "a gestational document, thrilling to witness" for Deland's exploration of romantic relationships. [4] Editors of the publication chose it as the 39th best album of 2020, with Kaitlin Irving praising "evocative lyricism and melancholic guitar riffs [that] make the album so intoxicating, real and timeless, it may prove impossible to turn off". [5] Someone New was an album of the week at The Line of Best Fit, where reviewer Jay Singh gave it a 9.5 out of 10 and called it "a living, breathing entity" that "has a presence that lingers long after it’s finished". [6] In Loud and Quiet, Guia Cortassa rated Someone New 8 out of 10, stating that "Deland gets incredibly close to penning the perfect pop album for the current moment". [7] Writing for Pitchfork Media, Sophie Kemp rated this album a 7.9 out of 10, stating that "despite its frequent darkness and sullen mood, Someone New shudders with a digital glow" that "replicates the push and pull of a complicated relationship". [8] Steve Horowitz of PopMatters scored this release a 7 out of 10, noting the "ambitious and demanding" songwriting but also criticizing the lack of seriousness, continuing that a "lack of gravitas is also the album’s greatest flaw". [9]