MAISIE PETERS SWITCHES GLITZ FOR CONFESSIONAL ON NEW RECORD ‘FLORESENCE’
ALBUM REVIEW | MAISIE PETERS – FLORESENCE by Taylor Campbell
Maisie Peters’ third studio album is something of a departure from the sparkly sound of her earlier albums – 2023’s The Good Witch and 2021’s You Signed Up For This – instead stripping back the popstar shine to centre her confessional lyrical style. The pared back guitar sound furthers the relatable feeling of the album, oppositional to the “glitz and glamour” rejected from track one onwards. The album resounds with ideas Maisie has long been concerned with – love and letting go – but struggles with a lack of sonic variety throughout.
Floresence is structurally interesting, flitting between new love on ‘Mary Janes’ and old ‘Kingmaker’ before concluding with ‘Nothing Like Being In Love’, where these contrasts find resolution. Both the narrative progression of the album and the lyrical wit make it difficult not to root for Maisie, the heroine of her own romantic comedy. Maisie’s sense of humour is the standout feature of her song writing, and she shows it off throughout ‘My Regards’, with lyrics like “Call me Kevin Costner the way I’m guarding his body”, offsetting the sentimentality of lines like “And he’s skipping my heart, Double Dutch”.
I found myself wishing that Maisie had reached further into the professional insecurities referenced in ‘Mary Janes’, which could have helped to add a bit of variety to an album which is a bit too one note thematically. She seemingly references the online hate she received following her time spent opening for Taylor Swift during the Eras Tour “in Birmingham”. “Sometimes when I sing, I get the big note wrong, the teenagers held on to that all summer long” – a compelling line which I had hoped might lead somewhere further than it did.
‘Kingmaker’ (with Julia Michaels) is a well-placed disruption to the rather repetitive sound of the album, and as close as Floresence comes to the poppy heights of The Good Witch. Maisie and Julia sound great together, with a satisfying contrast between Julia’s disenchanted tone against Maisie’s ironically sweet vocal.
Floresence contains much of what fans love about Maisie Peters’ music, her candour and self-effacing charm, but does lack in the multiplicity and memorability of her earlier ventures.
