For any artist, few hurdles prove as daunting as the notorious sophomore album: the thing after the thing that made you big. There exist two opposing, yet equally weighted, demands: the pressure to recreate your initial success, to remain static in your once-defined lane, versus the pressure to try something new. It is a thin line to walk, a road peppered with anticipation, the knowledge that whichever path taken will, inevitably, disappoint somebody.
008. "Valentine", Snail Mail (2021)
I listened to this album several times, but Valentine was the only track I kept coming back to.