On “ANXIETY” Almondmilkhunni’s sparkling potion of pop and R&B and Kailee Morgue’s bubbly mixture of soft pop and indie-rock wrap around each other to create a single that is equal parts cyberpunk and fairy-core. Philadelphia-raised Almondmilkhunni signed with Electric Feel Records in 2020, and since her April 2020 eponymous debut EP she has released a series of hypnotic singles including the soulful and honeyed “damnboy” (2020), the twinkling electropop “Liar” (2022) and “Fake Deep” (2023), and the angelic, sugar-soaked “Coma” (2023). Thriller Records’ Kailee Morgue is writer and muse on her debut album Girl Next Door – dancing carefree from riot grrrl punk (“Queen Bitch”) to grunge-tinged pop (“Arizona Pretty”) to tenderly acoustic (“Cheerleader”, “Loser”), Morgue stabs her pen into the weighty subjects of insecurity, feeling like a failure, emotional breakdowns, and trying to find happiness on one’s own. Almondmilkhunni’s warm, silky voice sings “ANXIETY’s” opening verse, “Can someone tell me that I’m not crazy / My heart and head don’t get along lately / I lose the game whenever I’m playing / The rules keep changing, I’m fading,” atop melodious guitar chords. A futuristic pattern of rolling and wavering drum sounds kick in to accompany Kailee Morgue’s lilting, siren-like voice take on the second verse, “Can someone tell me how to let go now / My mind is spinning out of control now / I don’t know how to feel / ‘Cuz I don’t know what is real / And it’s closing in on me now.”
Almondmilk and Morgue’s voices synthesize into an enchanting fairy spell on the song’s choruses. A crystally bass-heavy beat, a spikey, jittery rhythm, and a wave of airy, flowing and also pearly electronic sound rush in and out, and layer on top of one another, as the chorus unfolds. The chorus’ soundscape embodies the visceral experiencing of anxious feelings, with it becoming especially dense and noisy on evocative lines like, “It gets so hard to breathe,” and “Or maybe my anxiety / Is fucking with reality.” As I’ll discuss regarding the second verse, the otherworldly harmony formed by the two vocalists transforms the isolating character of the choruses’ lyrics into the feeling that I have a friend who can empathize with my anxiety and that I can ride out my anxious feelings alongside them. Almondmilkhunni’s velvety voice dominates in the first third of the second verse, “Sometimes / I believe my own lies / Sabotage myself / In disguise,” but Morgue’s ethereal voice harmonizes with the last words that the former sings. In the second verse’s second third, “I do it every time without trying / I don’t even like it / I’m not even crying / But I feel like I’m dying, slow,” Morgue’s voice dominates, but Almondmilk’s wraps delicately around hers in the first and last lines.
The two women’s voices swirl around each other in the last third of the second verse, “I always feel like I’m alone / I don’t know how to feel / ‘Cuz I don’t know what is real / And its closing in on me now,” their voices folding into one another, morphing into one another in certain moments, and enmeshing into one, heavenly voice, in many other moments. The second verse’s lyrics and the jittery, somersaulting beat that lies under the vocals are softened by the melding of Almondmilkhunni and Kailee Morgue’s voices. Like the single’s cover art, the two young women standing together in front of spiralling black scribbles, expresses, “ANXIETY” is a two-person mission to triumph through the blackhole of anxiety. The first chorus’ cacophonous and richly textured soundscape flares up across the second chorus’ first half, and in its second half Almondmilk and Morgue’s voices are isolated and echo atop a relatively empty and directionless soundscape. For this temporary moment, the song resembles that feeling of utter hopelessness and abandonment that surfaces during an anxious spiral. The layering of crystally bass booms, a spikey, jittery rhythm, and a crashing wave of airy, flowing, pearly sound returns and loops a few times over the final chorus. Digital twinkles flutter out of the final chorus’ last notes and Morgue’s laugh rings as the song fades to quiet. Despite the heaviness of “ANXIETY’s” last chapter, the single finishes with the emergence of sparkliness and jubilance.
