In 2013, the Oxford Dictionaries named “selfie” its phrase of the 12 months. Not coincidentally, that’s additionally when hyperpop star and digital photographer Hannah Diamond debuted with the London label PC Music. Working alongside producer and label mastermind A. G. Cook dinner, Diamond created high-concept digital pop, in addition to her personal hyper-stylized, extremely Photoshopped portraits. However a photograph—even a bespoke self-portrait in glowing excessive definition—can solely inform you a lot about an individual. Good Image, Diamond’s second and closing album for the label, which can stop to launch new music come January, is an earnest quest to seize her essence as an individual and an artist—and a winking commentary on the development of actuality and the trail to self-acceptance.
Early in Diamond’s profession, her chirpy, processed vocals and hyper-feminine, seemingly plastic persona led some observers to doubt her mere existence. Her 2019 debut, Reflections, didn’t do a lot to alter that Vocaloid-like posture, and its arrival was overshadowed by the truth that most of its songs had already been launched. Good Image, produced by David Gamson (Kesha, Charli XCX), has a a lot hotter palette than its predecessor. What was as soon as a crystalline shell of mourning for insecurities and damaged on-line relationships has matured right into a dial-up dream of early-aughts stardom made actual in 2023. HD is previous sounding excessive definition: Good Image embraces a blurrier decision the place pitch-shifted vocals glitch out and in of static and punchy, arpeggiated synths leap into large choruses. Even the comparatively downtempo cuts (“Flashback,” “Unbreakable”) carry a contemporary buoyancy.
As Diamond steers away from the icy, sad-girl trappings of her earlier work, she morphs right into a extra upbeat, motivational pop star, one thing like Hilary Duff’s ’00s teenie-bop traditional “What Goals Are Made Of” by means of Eurodance hitmaker DJ Sammy and mid-tempo Britney deep cuts. If the connection between these oft-maligned pop gems isn’t readily apparent, their affect on Good Image’s digitally mediated but heartfelt emotional panorama is. “Need You to Know” is tinged with Eurodance, whereas the modulated backing vocals of Spears’ 2008 track “Uncommon You” may be heard everywhere in the document.
Lyrically, Good Image covers a whole lot of the identical floor as Reflections with renewed optimism. Many songs are ostensibly about Diamond’s personal experiences—references to pixels, touchscreens, and photo-editing instruments abound. Nearly all of the songs are knowingly self-referential, and the meta humor that’s a PC Music signature serves to spotlight the real emotion behind them. Diamond continues to be considering her flaws, focusing on imposter syndrome in “Poster Woman” and “Lip Sync” and unsure relationships in cuts like “Unimaginable” and “Divisible by Two.” As a substitute of wallowing, she attracts newfound energy from the cracks in her self-image. “Once I concentrate on what’s good/I by no means discover the imperfections in moments that make life so value it,” she admits on “Poster Woman.” Again and again, Diamond reiterates that artifice doesn’t negate sincerity, simply as her function in developing it doesn’t vacate her company.
