Dear Future Me (LP) - Alexa Perez (Pop) With her 6-track EP “Dear Future Me”, Alexa Perez mixes sweet and sadness with a collection of melancholy tunes primed to hit you in your feels. Boasting an impressive production, sparkling vocals and catchy hooks, “Dear Future Me” is a collection of pop gems. We dig into the tracks and the artist below.
Alexa Perez is a latina songwriter turned artist hailing from in Huntsville, AL. Her artistry centers on cohesive storytelling with diary-style lyrics conveyed through dense vocal layering. Alexa marks this project as a chronicle of her evolution over the past four years, each track telling a chapter in the story of her life. Romantic baggage, loneliness, whimsy and longing, the collection’s emotions are set to perfectly crafted and ear candy laden beats. WIth this work, Alexa hopes you will dance, cry and connect.
The overall feel of the album is heaviness. Alexa carries a burden, many in fact, and in “Dear Future Me” she lets the listener in on all that weighs on her. Centered in heartfelt ballads and driving mid tempos, there is a Taylor Swift-ness to the stylings here. Along with the vocal performance and production, Alexa shines throughout as a songwriter, with captivating lyrics that stuck with us long after we finished listening to the project. “Cliche” probably exemplifies this the most.
The production is expertly done, both understated while complex. allowing Alexa’s vocals to shine throughout as the instrumentation fills the space and provides accompanying tension to Alexa’s angst. Instrument separation and clarity are perfection while still melding into a cohesive tracks. With Alexa’s vocals often intimately close, the instrumentation thrums along as if it is her heartbeat.
“ROCKETSHIP” begins the project with a slinky tango—a slippery lead bass winding through the backing as Alexa broods with darkness. The track reaches its crescendo in the choruses, culminating in a rousing anthem that has great sing-along-ability. The baton is handed to “Cliche”, which we think is the star of the project. The lyrics come to the forefront here, with dense vocal layering hitting you right in the chest as the sparkling instrumentation exemplifies the sorrow therein. This track is a standout.
“Virgo Moon” is where we feel the most Taylor, as Alexa yearns for the bliss of ignorance, burned by the curse of introspectiveness and self-awareness. “Obsessive” gives us Lorde—a bit more edge than the other tracks. But when we finally reach “On My Own” we no longer just simmer in our feelings, the drive returns with some clear forward momentum as the pace picks up. The journey that track beings culminates in “Wondering”, a perfect project closer that touches on some 80s influences in the way that Carly Rae Jepsen often does.
Overall, we are most impressed with the storytelling on “Dear Future Me.” Alexa is clearly a woman at the beginning of an emotional journey. She has carefully evaluated, weighed and unpacked the baggage that she has carried through her 20s. And now after that self assessment, we’re left wondering where she will go next. We’ve enjoyed this chapter in Alexa’s story and anxiously await the next.