Album Review: Greta Isaac - 'Dolly Zoom'
Bohemian, alt-pop party girl vibes are back and its all thanks to Greta Isaac-or is it Dolly Zoom?
2025 is well and truly Greta Isaac’s year. Her second drop of the year and fourth solo release, ‘Dolly Zoom’ sees her introduce the world to its namesake and her alter-ego who can only really be described as ‘the long-lost fourth Powerpuff Girl, if she’d escaped the lab and discovered platform heels, chaos, and a killer stage presence.‘ Much like the character herself, the EP is characterised by its exploration and dissection of extremes in pursuit of challenging and ultimately freeing the messy and weird parts of ourselves that we’ve hidden away. Blending instrumentation cherry picked from the era of Y2K and incorporating mechanic futuristic motifs, ‘Dolly Zoom’ is a fantastic mesh of nostalgia with anticipation for the sound of tomorrow.
Isaac ups the ante from the get-go with opening track ‘SOFT SCOOP TALKING DOG’. Bursting with energy, it is a song that is as rich and layered as it is fun to listen to. Its the perfect introduction to Dolly and her soundtrack of chaos. When writing and deciding the order of the EP, Greta was keen to ensure that things started with a bang. She explains
‘..born from the feeling of being trapped within a claustrophobic room of how we think we should look or behave or speak. Dolly kicks that door down, emerges from the chaos outside, grabs you by the hand and grins at you through a seductive haze of (vape) smoke and promises, she whispers, “come with me, it doesn’t have to be this way”’
Kick the door down is exactly what this track does. The opening lines are a cacophony mosaic; from the sounds of a dental drill, a children's jack-in-the-box and laser noises from a different planet, it is melodic anarchy. Nothing makes sense but we quickly begin to understand that in Dolly’s topsy turvy world, that’s part of the fun.
Witty, imaginative and with a sense of mania that is simply endearing, you can’t help but want more of Dolly. The most addictive track has to be MOVIESTAR which in its madness packs such an almighty punch that you are left wondering what lengths Dolly and by extension Greta are willing to go.
‘Dear diary, I’m about to make a scene / I just don’t think that there’s enough room up in here for her and me (AW) / I’m a sucker for the drama, fuck shit up just cause I wanna / Mom and Dad said you be good / Fuck that shit I’m Hollywood / I cut my head off, crash my car / Drink your blood like Dracula / (LALALA) boy I feel like a movie star!’.
At its core, this is a song all about performance. It embodies everything that creates the main character energy of this new Dolly Zoom era; delusional, impossibly nonchalant yet bold, and craving attention in an oversaturated world. The visualiser music video that comes with the track is beyond the bounds of being ‘out there’ and is a fascinating mirror onto the kind of wild party lifestyle that Isaac is exploring on this record. It speaks to the kinds of self-sabotage we can often find ourselves falling into in search of validation and sees Greta unafraid to be grotesque, messy and clearly unravelling. A found footage / CCTV clip that is looped over and over again before culminating in Dolly falling to the ground, it is a literal depiction of the harmful patterns that potentially lie beneath the glitter and sparkle. Pure cinematic chaos, it's the song you’ll play again and again and again.
One of the fun things about Greta Isaac and this release in particular is how referential she is, both to current affairs and the lexicon of public culture but also in terms of the music itself. There's plenty of influences that have helped to create the icon of ‘Dolly Zoom’ and its wonderful to see homage paid to the queens of the electropop world. The brat effect (as fans are calling it) a phenomenon taken from Charli XCX’s 2024 album, shines through Dolly as clear as the glitter in her eyeshadow. There is also clear inspiration taken from icons like Sophie, the entire roster of PC Music and of course the pop and dance music aesthetics of the noughties. The continuation, evolution and rejuvenation of this kind of sound is more than just trend for Isaac - she’s making the music that she grew up with.
A personal (and likely fan) favourite emerges in ‘CAR CRASH’. There is something impossibly alluring about the unhinged and that is exactly what this track capitalizes on. When trying to articulate the kind of scene and imagery she was wanting to evoke with this song, Greta explained
‘Car crash serves as a warning to the people Dolly keeps close - she drives (hasn’t got a license) in her own lane (off the edge of a cliff) and will pull up to the edge of the curb, music so loud it makes your ears just about bleed, and she pulls you into her car with a vigour that translates Regina George’s “get in loser, we’re going shopping” to “get in cutie pie I’m going to ruin your life!”. You’ll have the time of your life, until you don’t. She’s the manic part of us that takes the form of a suspicious salesman with a twinkle in her eye, convincing us that a bad idea can still be an exciting one’
Hooky, sassy and a calling of people to the dancefloor, it is evidence of Isaac’s incredible abilities as an artist. Her vocals on this track are some of the best we’ve heard from her; expressing everything from deep searing pain to the attitude of someone who simply doesn’t care anymore. Props have to be given to the bass that provide the drama to Dolly’s sugary danger, it's impossible not to get stuck in your head.
It’s so exciting to see this new side to Greta Isaac and watch as she explores and redefines her sound. ‘Dolly Zoom’ offers a Frankenstein fusion of performance, sex, and mania, as glamorous as it is unhinged, and simply impossible to ignore. Lucky fans have the chance to hear the songs live at her upcoming Omeara show in London but for the rest of us, the wait for more dates will no doubt be worth it.
Words by Kirsty-Ann Thomson
