‘Yes baby, yes’: Opening the ‘locket’ Track-By-Track

With a fresh whimsical sound and gentle artistry, dance-pop singer Madison Beer has gifted fans a New Year’s present in the form of “locket.” Her third studio album, released Jan. 16, invites listeners into a dreamy sonic landscape and a new side of Beer.

Opening with subtle bell chimes and layered choral vocals, title track “locket theme” offers a poetic story of finding strength in a time of heartbreak — introducing a key theme of the 33-minute album. With each new line comes an even stronger dynamic as the record’s angelic chords and echoing synths embrace listeners warmly with bittersweet musicality. 

“Everything that I could ever need is within me,” Beer sings earnestly, articulating her newly-discovered inner strength.

The album’s musical mood makes a complete 180-degree turn in the high-energy indie-pop single “yes baby.” The song underscores a theme of understanding the lucrative power created from self-confidence, using rhythmic tension and stacked, structured harmonies to build the track’s intensity. 

Third track “angel wings” combines simple R&B beats with her signature light, cursive voice to craft a mesmerizing, cosmic sound that feels fresh to the pop scene. Gutwrenching lyrics declaring the singer’s distaste for a failed relationship mix together with snare drums, synthesizers and autotune to create a lofi melody of heartbreaking proportions. 

“When I talk about you, I’ll say ‘Rest in Peace,’” the pop princess sings softly, accepting the reality of a failed relationship.

Subtle guitar strums play the opening notes of “for the night” — a calmer, acoustic-pop track filled with a dream-like sound and powerful, heartfelt lyrics. The track explores themes of guilt, longing and dissatisfaction with toxic relationships — yet another portrayal of the vulnerability displayed with the opening of Beer’s heart locket. 

The artist’s flexible vocals shine through in fifth track “bad enough,” a brokenhearted ballad where some resentful reverb expresses the desperation of clinging onto a failing relationship. Beer’s voice gracefully leaps between octaves, beautifully displaying her Grammy-nominated talent. 

“My friends say things I already know / but it’s not bad enough to let my baby go,” Beer sings.

Overlapping countermelodies and spoken verse collide in the simply subtle “healthy habit” — the sixth key of the “locket” experience. With wispy, flowing phrases that repeat time and time again, this Lana Del Rey-style piece depicts the constant questions and overthinking all too present after a breakup. 

A swaying, equalized chorus greets listeners in the opening moments of seventh track “you’re still everything,”  a haunting song about the struggle of being unable to stop loving an ex-partner. Serving as one of the more emotionally raw tracks of the album with painfully relatable lines that grasp at hurt heartstrings, the track is an ideal way to cope through complicated feelings over an ex-lover.

The chart-topping track “bittersweet” comes next, sharing the artist’s feelings of grief, remembrance and healing as she copes with the frustration of a lost relationship — bittersweetly blessing fans who have  a relatable experience to commiserate with. 

The album’s ninth track, “complexity,” boasts autotuned instrumentation and a heavy synth melody which meld to create a glitchy sound, articulating the feeling of desperation that comes with yearning for more from a relationship.

“How can I expect you to love me / when you don’t even love yourself?” the artist sorrowfully sings as she copes with the pain of heartbreak.

Beer’s dreamy, soft-spoken vocals shine bright in “make you mine” — a simple and scandalous  single about the desire for physical connection. Sugary-sweet musicality helped the song blossom to popularity on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay Chart and find fame in new promotional advertisements for Dior Addict fragrances. 

Rounding out the tracklist is the subtle and subdued 11th track, “nothing at all.” Beer’s audio-creativity is a prominent feature of the piece, where autotune and pitch adjustments are used to provide a mechanical, gearshifting vibe that mimics the clicks of a locket opening. 

The artist shares her own insecurities about navigating single life, leaving listeners with a reflective theme of heartbroken grief to contemplate once the track has tocked its final tick.

“locket” is available to stream on all platforms.