鈥淗appily ever after鈥 is a concept that鈥檚 reserved for fairytales, generic romantic comedies and frustratingly optimistic love songs. In the real world, relationships are messy, and they almost always end in heartbreak. It鈥檚 this painful reality that Lucid, Asa鈥檚 triumphant fourth studio album, captures brilliantly.
The first two singles, 鈥淭he Beginning鈥 and 鈥淕ood Thing鈥 were perfect indicators of the themes Asa would go on to explore throughout the album. On the former, Asa, in a last-ditch effort to fix a dying relationship, begs for a reset; and in the latter, she accepts that the relationship is broken beyond repair.
The rest of the 14-track project tackles other shades of heartbreak and healing: Asa sings about everything from resenting her ex for wasting her time and her love (鈥淭orn鈥), to accepting that she needs to get the hell out of a toxic relationship (鈥淢ake No Sense鈥).
However, Lucid isn鈥檛 all about the downsides of relationships; a few songs show that Asa is still optimistic about love. In 鈥淪tay Tonight鈥, she puts herself back out there in search of the one; 鈥淵ou and Me鈥 finds her wooing the man of her dreams; and 鈥淯ntil We Try (This Lo鈥)鈥 is her attempt at rekindling an old flame.
With captivating production work, impeccable songwriting and her raw, honest voice, Lucid ranks as Asa鈥檚 most personal and cohesive record to date. While fans had to wait half a decade to get it 鈥 Asa’s longest break between projects 鈥 the brilliant final product was certainly worth the silence.
Listen to Lucid below:
