Since the title pop princess has long been taken, we need a different term to ennoble one of the most promising new talents emerging in the music scene. So, give it up for Swiss pop duchess Milune, who released her debut album on March 7th. Hearts Lust is a rose-tinted dream, made of soft melodies, heartfelt lyrics and Milune’s angelic voice.
Hearts Lust is a concept album. Apart from boasting a stunning aesthetic, the album has a coherent sound that allows Milune to explore different types of lust while remaining in the same realm all the way through. This makes the album not just a compilation of songs, but a masterclass in storytelling. With the intro ‘XO’, a phone call eases the listeners into the album and introduces them to its ongoing mixture of euphoria, nostalgia and recklessness.
‘silver’ is both a seamless continuation of ‘XO’ and the perfect transition from Milune’s previous project, her EP rabbit holes, to this new era. The mysterious sound of rabbit holes remains but the lyrics now fully embrace the feelings that rabbit holes started exploring. The chorus allows neither Milune nor the listeners even a moment to pause and breathe; the lyrical flow, which almost gives the impression of Milune stumbling over her own words and emotions, embodies the adrenaline rush that goes along with falling in love. The bridge is where this euphoria peaks.
‘Hearts Lust’, the title song of the album, captures its essence perfectly. It’s more upbeat and playful than the other tracks, containing a laugh here and there. Just like ‘XO’, it starts with a phone call, and just like ‘silver’, it’s made of pure dopamine.
Arguably the saddest song on the album is ‘kiss goodbye’. Although sonically less dramatic and more stripped down, the lyrics explore the pain that comes with having to hide a relationship due to the other person being in the closet. Milune finds the perfect balance between extremely candid lines and clever metaphors like ‘frame me for your perfect crime’. What makes ‘kiss goodbye’ so special is the fact that the deeply emotional lyrics hide behind a fast-paced tune, much like the fear of being openly out might hide behind the fun of being together.
While ‘blonde’ is a break-up-song, it’s set in the part of the break-up where depression makes way for acceptance and a fresh start is imminent – in this case marked by a new hair colour. ‘blonde’ was the first single of ‘Hearts Lust’ and gave us a glimpse into what the album would be; it’s upbeat and fun, filled with synths and more prominent drums. With ‘kissing you at midnight’, the fourth and final single before the album release, Milune explores a different type of lust. Here, it’s the pre-chorus that truly shines, as well as the bridge that is a stream-of-consciousness, mirroring Milune’s inner turmoil.
The following two songs make up the boldest duo of the album. ‘MY LIPS’ has an ethereal sound to it, and Milune’s voice climbing up the scale in the pre-chorus only to jump into a cool, lower register during the chorus gives the song a hypnotising character. ‘bad in bed’, which came out in January, shares this entrancing quality. Overall, ‘bad in bed’ is the very definition of yearning, longing, desire – in short, heart’s lust.
The heart of the album is ‘moonflower’. While the beat offers nice support, the lyrics take the centre stage here and it’s lines such as ‘it’s my heart, it’s my mess’ that make the song what it is. ‘moonflower’ feels like the more carefree younger sister of Billie Eilish’s girlhood anthem ‘What Was I Made For’.
With ‘still her’ comes the interlude of the album. It’s a confession captured in a jaw-droppingly honest voice recording in which Milune admits to having written the whole album about one particular girl whom she just can’t let go.
The interlude then seamlessly bleeds into the next track, ‘nighttrain’, which takes us into a more sombre direction. In fact, while the last three songs of the album still hold the spark of euphoria that defines their predecessors, it seems that we now enter the part of reflection where melancholia is inevitable. If ‘moonflower’ was the sunny afternoon spent with friends sitting in the park, ‘still her’ marks the sunset and ‘nighttrain’ the dusk – the part where you’re left to deal with the feelings that hide from the daylight by yourself. ‘nighttrain’ is a beautiful ballad, with Milune laying her soul bare. There’s no beat in the song, giving listeners a floating feeling. However, we are then taken back to reality by another voice recording, in which someone reminds Milune that ‘she doesn’t like taking the train. And you just do’. This might be a metaphor for Milune being willing to travel on, to go the distance, while the other girl is reluctant to join and stays behind. The train goes to Vienna, to the east, where the sun rises first.
And while a sunrise might mean a new beginning, it can also be steeped in regret of what happened the night before. For ‘cinema’ it’s a mix of the two. The song starts with an acoustic guitar, the only song on the album to do so. The heartbreaking line ‘I always let you treat me like a hobby’ is tucked away in the first verse, almost eclipsed by the beat that kicks in right after, but it still has a petrifying effect. ‘cinema’ feels like a sequel to ‘kiss goodbye’ as several lines allude to a relationship being kept a secret. All throughout the song, there are clever nods to the title, ‘cinema’, as Milune compares the girl to her favourite film and also mentions ‘Call Me By Your Name’. The line ‘I’ll call you by my name, I’ll be your half-moon’ has a double meaning too, since the French word for moon is ‘lune’. Apart from name dropping it, the song includes several more subtle references to the film. This is especially apparent with the repeated water imagery plays, which plays a huge role in ‘Call Me By Your Name’.
The closing track, ‘SO CRAZY CLUB’, is the most special song of the album. Starting off with a sombre piano, birds chirping and a church bell ringing, this indeed does sound like the reflective, half-drunk walk home at dawn – in this case after a visit to the So Crazy Club. There’s a sense of impending doom, the lingering feeling that this might’ve been the last visit to the So Crazy Club, at least the last visit of this album and therefore this chapter in Milune’s life. The album then ends the way it started: With a phone call, only now the line is dead.
Throughout the album, Milune made incredible stylistic choices on several levels. The fact that ‘MY LIPS’ is written in all caps, hence emphasising the song’s boldness, is just one example. The visualisers deserve attention too, as they not only all fit the theme but subtly tell the story of each song. In the visualiser for ‘cinema’, for instance, we see Milune’s hands, sticky with glitter, struggling to wash the glitter off, symbolising her inability to let go the feeling of the other girl and her touch. To sum it up, Hearts Lust is a beautiful debut album and it’s very clear that Milune did put her whole heart into it.
Written by: Melanie Falkensteiner
Edited by: Marloes Joosen
