By Mica Kendall
Cherry Glazerr retains their fundamental punk sound alongside frontwoman Clementine Creevy's encapsulating vocals. Their new album, Stuffed & Ready, contains the elements fans love about Cherry Glazerr's sound with a new personal twist.
Cherry Glazerr retains their fundamental punk sound alongside frontwoman Clementine Creevy's encapsulating vocals. Their new album, Stuffed & Ready, contains the elements fans love about Cherry Glazerr's sound with a new personal twist.
Unlike Cherry Glazerr's past albums Haxel Princess and Apocalipstick which perfectly reflect Cherry Glazerr's quirky personality within the lyrics alongside gritty punk rock guitar riffs and a fervent drum pattern, Stuffed & Ready settles for some of Creevy's most introspective lyrics yet.
Evident within the ten tracks on the album, Stuffed & Ready thematically revolves around loneliness, identity, and independency clashed with a political call to action against the normalization of present day misogyny.
Cherry Glazerr didn't need to rely on a concept album as their form of a two-year comeback. Instead, they showcased to their listeners a newfound sense of growth and maturity.
Standout tracks like "Wasted Nun" emulate a similar sense of aggression and heavy punk-rock instrumentation like their older and more popular tracks. But upon closer lyrical inspection, one will notice a more personal and darker undertone. Serving as the first single prior to the album's release, "Wasted Nun" sets the primary tone of the album: Creevy yearns to grasp her sense of self with "I can't see the fog I'm in." "Wasted Nun" replaces Creevy's identity with a label of sin, resonating throughout the album in songs like "That's not my Real Life" and "Pieces." Such pieces touch on Creevy being submissive and conforming to a lover's preferences in order to be deemed desirable.
However, anger and rage replaces this sense of weakness and hopeless surrendering.
Best emphasized in the epic scream solo in "Stupid Fish," Creevy releases her frustrations: "I see myself in you/ and that's why I f******* hate you." it's almost like Creevy is putting her hands on the listener's shoulder and shaking them in order to convey why she is so infuriated with herself. Irony is also prevalent on the album in one of Cherry Glazerr's most satirical track yet being "Daddi." "Daddi" is encapsulated with Creevy's whispery vocals repeating a sequence of compliance and sexual rhetorical questions until the chorus hits. There, Creevy cleverly contradicts with dominance in "Don't hold my hand/Don't be my man."
This stand-up-for-what-is-right attitude and self justice empowerment coincides with Creevy's personal beliefs. Creevy is a feminist, and her values are represented best in the track "Juicy Socks." "Juicy Socks" exemplifies Creevy's ability to take political issues such as misogyny and sexism and add her own twist to it. Similar to the chorus in "Daddi," Creevy repeats "don't be nervous" throughout the majority of the song as a direct ode to women connecting to the #MeToo Movement. She addresses women to go against the normalization of misogyny amidst our current political climate.
Stuffed & Ready shows how Creevy is not afraid to touch on her own personal self consciousness through sharing her feelings of loneliness and self isolation.
The instrumentation on the album mirrors Creevy's fluctuating emotions through heavy guitar riffs and high tempo drum beats. Yes, Cherry Glazerr's uniqueness and relatable sense of quirkiness that fans found loveable in classic tracks like "Grilled Cheese" and "Teenage Girl" is not so stylistically common on Stuffed & Ready. However, Creevy has proved that she has ripped off the quirky band aid trademark. Now, she centers her work on pure rawness towards negative emotions that are often pushed aside in music.
Stuffed & Ready exemplifies a sense of authenticity with a message to listener's that they are not the only ones who have felt alone and self isolated from their peers - that it is okay to be frustrated with yourself for being completely infatuated with someone that resembles yourself. Cherry Glazerr may not be the same band one once knew from Haxel Princess, but it is safe to say that they have returned into the music realm better than ever.
