The musician’s second EP incorporates catchy lyrics with playful music videos and beats.
When you are drowning in midterms and aching for a change of scene, listening to Silver Sphere’s second EP during a night drive downtown is the perfect antidote. This artist is my new favorite. The EP, “yikes!” is an energetic and melancholic eight-song soundtrack that’s perfect for cuffing season. The EP explores and celebrates a 20-year-old girl’s romantic trials and tribulations — the love, the lust, the heartache and the disgust. Though each of the songs follows similar lyrical themes, the individual tracks have distinct vibes. You can listen to the EP in any order, but I’ll talk about the songs chronologically.
Though Silver Sphere is relatively new on the music scene, with only 13.7 thousand Instagram followers and 366,479 monthly listeners on Spotify, the songs on the Chicago artist’s second EP would make perfect playlist companions to modern musical stars to the likes of Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa.
The first song makes me picture a very specific location: “can’t sleep in” sounds like hearing music while holding your breath at the bottom of a pool at a party that your best friend dragged you to even though you told her that you have a to-do list a mile long. It sounds watery; the lyrics are indistinct. Still, it’s a good song to include in a coffee shop studying playlist.
The second song is one of the best. Silver Sphere released “drinking games” as a single over a year before it was included in this EP. The song describes a flirtationship in which one partner is invested but the other is indifferent. The music video for this song is a funny compilation of Silver and her friends reacting to taking a shot. The third song, “boys r dumb! duh!” follows a similar plot to “drinking games,” with comparable energy and sound. Both songs are about unrequited love.
The vibe of “boys in bands,” the fourth song on the EP, is the perfect successor to Hot Girl Summer. Ladies, this is fuck-it-up fall. It’s the most bopping song of the season. The lyrics almost remind me of “New Rules” by Dua Lipa. It’s a confidence-inducing, authentic, dance in front of your bathroom mirror type of song that is the epitome of musical perfection. The music video depicting Silver spraying silly string and throwing eggs at boys who mansplain is the perfect representation of the song. This has been my personal favorite song since it was released as a single in April 2019.
The fifth song, “lost cause,” was released as a single in May 2019. It’s a melancholic lament about unrequited love. I don’t like this song at all, but it’s somewhat redeemed by the funky Romeo and Juliet-turned-murder plot between a futuristic, yet stylized 1960s Silver and a space cowboy in the music video.
Next on the EP is “waste my time,” an upbeat song about accepting the bad-boy habit you just can’t seem to kick. This is one of the most repetitive songs on the EP, but it still has a fun sound.
Seventh is “i’ll go goth,” the perfect follow-up to the first song of the EP. At this point in the night, you’ve surfaced for several breaths but ended up back at the bottom of the party pool. You’re over it. It’s time to go home.
The final song is called “sucks 4 u.” I can only describe the sound as the happy marriage between Taylor Swift and Halsey with the same periodic repetitions of one phrase and the catchiness that those artists typically bring. The track, however, has better lyrics compared to Billie Eilish: fast-paced, narrative and emotionally-charged.
The whole EP is less than half an hour-long, but it captures college romance in a realistic and dynamic way, as shown by the music videos. Silver Sphere’s “yikes!” is a must-listen this fall.
