While
Madison Beer
got personal on her full-length debut,
Life Support
(2021), an album that tackled grief, breakups, and struggles with mental health, she gets even more vulnerable on the restrained, ballad-heavy follow-up,
Silence Between Songs
. Working with around a dozen producers and co-writers, among them
's
Leroy Clampitt
and
One Love
, its more intimate character was at least partly inspired by
Lana Del Rey
, who received her own advance copy of the record. Jazz pianist and music polymath
James Francies
and Grammy-winning songwriter
Tobias Jesso, Jr.
were among the behind-the-scenes contributors to the lyrical "Dangerous," one of many strings-embellished (and sometimes rock-injected) ballads here that deal with relationships gone wrong. Also included in the 14-song set are the pulsing "Home to Another One" and "Sweet Relief," whose thumping bass rhythms are nonetheless accompanied by a wispy, introspective vocal delivery, and the '60s pop-inflected "I Wonder," which was written by
Beer
,
Clampitt
, Norwegian producer/songwriter
Fred Ball
(
Rihanna
Jessie Reyez
), and
Lucy Healey
Chelsea Cutler
Delacey
). Appearing soon after that song in the track list is the
Turtles
-sampling "Showed Me (How I Fell in Love with You)." For anyone who missed it in the meantime, she finally does deliver diva-styled pop with the final kiss-off track "King of Everything" ("You're the king of nothing now").
became
's second straight album to debut in the U.K. Top 30 and the top half of the Billboard 200. ~ Marcy Donelson