Following on from 2016's Lady Wood, Blue Lips is the slow-paced second phase of Tove Lo's exploration of indulgent and hedonistic love. With the dizzying and euphoric lead single, Disco Tits, rolling this phase out, the Swedish singer not only confirms that she's the queen of loaded titles (give it a second…) but she's also expert at crafting melancholic songs that show the unglamorous and lonely downside to being a party girl.
Her third album narrates the rush and crashing halt of a lustful relationship, and the many rebounds she takes to recover. "Just take the edge off it," she pleads on Strangers in the Dark, begging for anything to numb the pain of heartache. While on Hey, You Got Drugs?, she would rather stay out and destroy herself than go home alone.
It's a controlled spiral of self-destruction, with songs such as Don't Ask Don't Tell and Romantics serving as nerve-racking comedowns to impulsive, drug-fuelled decisions. Blue Lips feels like the end of a night, when everything that once sparkled under the disco ball is now revealed under brash and unforgiving lights as rock bottom.
