Album: Debby Friday - The Starrr of the Queen of Life

Debby Friday is a Nigerian-Canadian singer-producer who found some success a couple of years ago with her debut album Good Luck. It won the Best Electronic Album 2023 Polaris Prize, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy or Brit. That album had a moody rock-tronic feel.

The new one, created in her new London base with her guitarist, the Australian producer Darcy Baylis, is more straightforward EDM, but draws from a varied palette and retains her personality. It’s a likeable club-centric outing.

Initially, it appears she’s going to go 4/4-bangers-all-the-way but, as the album goes on, she becomes more lyrically reflective. She’s said the relentless touring after her debut wore her down, and the lyrics sometimes reflect this. Particularly “Alberta”, a woozy slowie wherein she mumbles tokens of love and nostalgic memories, aimed at, it sounds like, a partner who kept her on the straight'n'narrow.

It's not the only downtempo cut. “Leave” is a smudgy contemplative song, with Vocoder vocals, while “Higher” is a highlight, another love song (I think) with Friday’s lyrics scrawled smearily all over a woozy psychedelic throb. Opener “1/17” is, similarly slower, and adopts a loved-up lyrical tone to start with (“Skin to skin and no buffer”), but three-minutes in, suddenly goes to Tomorrowland for a pure cheese EDM four-to-the-floor stomp.

Those looking just for solid dancefloor fare are well-served too. From the hedonic (but secretly paranoiac) Zara Larsson-esque “All I Wanna do is Party” to another highlight, the catchy drum & bass pop of “Bet on Me”, to the grubbier ghettotek-lite of “In the Club, created with Detroit trio HiTech. There are also pulsing, lightly rapped numbers along the way too. In short, the convolutedly named The Starrr of the Queen of Life sees Debby Friday expand what she does without taming what she is. It’s not her breakout, I don’t think, but a solid step onwards.

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 Below: watch the video for "All I Wanna Do is Party" by Debby Friday