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"Blue Lips" (also referred to as Blue Lips (Lady Wood Phase II) is the third studio album by Swedish singer Tove Lo. It was released on 17 November 2017 by Island Records.
Blue Lips consists of two chapters, "Light Beam" and "Pitch Black", which collectively describe the "highs, lows and ultimate demise of a relationship". Tove Lo considers it to be the second half of a two-piece concept album preceded by her previous studio album, Lady Wood, consisting of the chapters "Fairy Dust" and "Fire Fade", and released in 2016.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
User Album Review
Blue Lips is subtitled [lady wood phase II], and it comprises parts three and four of Lo’s pair of concept albums. Both albums chronicle the birth and death of a tumultuous love affair, doomed by an all-consuming, self-destructive passion. Although sex is absolutely the lens through which Lo explores this relationship, it never feels as if she’s performing for the male gaze, and although she flirts with camp, it’s in a self-aware way that conveys a certain seriousness.
The first half of Blue Lips, titled “LIGHT BEAMS,” begins with the lead single, an uptempo dance track called “disco tits.” It blends 1970s disco, 1990s house, and Lo’s penchant for humor and entendre all into one neat package dripping with erotic mirth. The musical apex of Tove Lo’s career thus far, “disco tits” uses clever structural elements—like a single-bar a capella pre-chorus that ramps up the track’s energy before the stinging pulse of the refrain—to create something that is slinky, cool, and relentlessly driving. “I’m wet through all my clothes/I’m fully charged, nipples are hard/Ready to go,” she sings, almost deadpan, once again presenting herself as the central focus of her lust. The track is the quintessential example of the effect Lo wishes to achieve—songs about the complexity of female sexuality that make their point through the irreverence of pop music. Case in point: in the “disco tits” video, Lo drives a convertible down a desert highway, while receiving road head from a furry yellow puppet.
Reviewed by Cameron Cook for pitchfork.com.
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