Album Review: You Signed Up For This by Maisie Peters
Intricate story-telling and a variety of sounds makes the 21-year-old’s full-length debut one to remember, says Ellie-Jean Royden.
I had the pleasure of seeing the adorable Maisie Peters this summer at Latitude Festival, where she live-debuted her "You Signed Up For This", the title song from her new album of the same name.
Maisie is a 21-year-old from West Sussex – a fact which makes me feel very small and unaccomplished – finding her fame on YouTube before being signed to Ed Sheeran's label: Gingerbread Man. In her album, released this August, Maisie tells the stories of seemingly insignificant moments as if they are slow-motion movie scenes, which is exactly how they feel when you feel when you are a teenager going through heartbreak.
Above all else, You Signed Up For This is a pop masterpiece. The record combines catchy lyrics and melodies with upbeat synths, but has an acoustic undercurrent which is reminiscent of her early days on YouTube, maintaining the sound her fans have come to know and love. However, you can feel that this album is a labour of love and not just spitballing ideas; it is a clear step into her professional career as an artist. There is not one skip on the whole album, as the songs melt from rage-filled anthems into soft ballads, each as refreshing as the last.
The first song on the album, the title song, sets the tone for the following 14 tracks. Peters unflinchingly lays out her flaws, apologising for "making it about myself again", speaking not just to the lover in her song but also to her critics. It is a bold statement: “you don't like this? Well, you don't have to listen, after all - you signed up for this”. She continues this theme of self-assurance in “I'm Trying (Not Friends)”, claiming "I might be bitter and twisted and broken and petty and lying. But at least I'm trying.”
In “Villain”, she sees the ugly version of herself in the mirror: the crazy ex who drunkenly pays a visit to her old boyfriend's house prompting him to "call someone to get me, saying Jesus Christ just move on already". It's a brutal scene and the music is harrowing; it has a combination of a folklike guitar and staccato rhythm, which sounds fun but only intensifies the raw pain of the lyrics. She displays her most vulnerable self for us in an uninhibited way, refusing to paint herself as the victim and simultaneously forgiving herself.
As well as ripping into her own character, she makes quite a nasty dent into some of her exes too. "Boy" and "Psycho" are the holy duo, delivering biting humour and kicks in the teeth to misogynists everywhere. "Psycho", the lead single, portrays the "perfect Patrick Bateman" who will not take responsibility for his actions and, months post-breakup, still calls her crazy to soothe his fragile ego. "Boy" takes influences from early 00s hip-hop and includes some impressive rhymes and tongue twisters. It describes the guy we all know too well, who thinks "I'm dumb, trying to pull one on me" because he has "never been hugged".
This album, among other things, is about breakups. It goes beyond being a mere heartbreak album; it gets to the core of the chaos of being a young woman and these relationships are one of the many facets of this experience. One of my personal favourite tracks, “Outdoor Pool”, tells the story of being asked out one evening by someone you are “obsessed” with, who makes you feel special for a moment and then lets you down.
Maisie's talent is in the details of her storytelling, telling us "I heard you took Rebecca to HMV '' and "Kate saw you kissing the French exchange". The names of other people in the story, locations, objects and intimate moments create this rich picture which takes her music beyond a generic teenage heartache song. You believe her when she sings "it's the worst day of my life".
This record also stands apart from other albums in its attention to different types of love. In "Brooklyn", Maisie tells the story of a trip she takes with her sister, which doesn't sound like the song that will break you, but it definitely is. There’s a soft piano underneath soothing claps which fade away to an emotional climax at the chorus. I don't even have a sister, and I cried the first three times I listened to it. The lyric "I hate your tracksuit, sister I missed this" perfectly sums up the beauty of this song; it describes an unconditional love where both parties can be completely honest and supportive.
You Signed Up for This is a celebration of love – love for yourself, friends, exes, partners – especially at times when you really don't feel like celebrating love because you have been hurt by it. Maisie lets us know that sometimes love stories don't work out, even when “I wanted it to work” (in “Love Him I Don’t”), but they have every right to be told as the love stories that they were. Her songs also reassure us that some situations don't deserve to be forgotten, and she validates those "crazy" moments of pain or regret.
If you are looking for a feel-good, lyrically enlightened album, Maisie Peters' debut is the one for you.