Album Review: Abbie Ozard - 'everything still worries me'
Abbie Ozard releases her much-anticipated debut album everything still worries me.
The indie-pop artist’s debut album has arrived, and it’s painfully relatable, funny, and beautifully melancholic.
Ozard hails from Manchester and has had a successful few years of releasing music, touring with other artists such as Lauran Hibberd, Phoebe Green and Whenyoung, and playing festivals, including Glastonbury in 2023.
In 2019, her debut EP Growing Pains arrived, and was followed by two more, 2021’s Let’s Play Pretend and 2022’s Water Based Lullabies, gaining praise from Greg James, Huw Stephens and Mollie King.
So, it’s safe to say that her debut full-length release was something to get excited about, and it doesn’t disappoint.
Opening with the window, which is one of my favourite tracks on the album, we’re off to an impressive start. Essentially, it’s a song about looking out of windows when you’re in a car, but it’s wonderfully observed and full of emotion. I can definitely picture listening to it in a car on a summer evening, windows down, stars out. It has a gorgeous, dreamy sound. “I turn away to smile/Staring out the window” she sings during the chorus. “Where did all the time go?” she finishes the song.
Next is how are you holding up? Which is another stunning song about going through tough times, delivered in fuzzy, fun production. The sound is just so easy to listen to, and you can get caught up in it without realising that the lyrics actually cut pretty deep. “I lay in bed and don’t get up till I have to/I open up my phone and it’s always bad news” she sings. We’ve all been there. It’s a song that you want to sing along to and have fun with, I think it’ll be great live.
Single anything for you is next, and it basically is like a sigh in song form and explores the feeling of someone having a hold over you and not being in control. It’s tongue-in-cheek lyrically, but also sad and relatable, of course. “It’s always anything for you/And my mascara’s washed off/And I’m crying on the tube” she sings, in a lower register.
Monsters is a great track too, with a fantastic melody that makes you want to jump up and dance, but lyrically, it’s on the sadder side again, about the end of a relationship that wasn’t good for either party. “Too long living in a fantasy/And it’s made monsters out of you and me” she sings, with something like relief.
We have the singles days like these, and I don’t know happiness without you sandwiched next to each other. They’re both about growing up and navigating relationships, but quite different sonically. Days like these is a track that touches on the negative sides of social media, about being performative, and how exhausting it is. Whereas happiness is a joyful, energetic love song, really. “I can hold my head up high/And squeeze your hand until we die” Ozard exclaims. The production is great too, definitely another album highlight.
The album is also home to the single miss American dream, featuring Pixey, and the two of them sound great together. It’s a song that has a playful, nostalgic vibe to it and is another one for listening to with the windows down on a summer’s day. “She’s the only thing I need/She’s my American dream” they sing together.
Abbie Ozard has solidified herself to be one of the most exciting voices in the indie music scene today with everything still worriers me, an album that should be played all summer long.
Words by Lucy Skeet
