Frankie Orella’s new EP, It’s kind of a mess in here, lands like a five-song diary cracked wide open, charting the jagged lines of intimacy, anxiety, and self-reflection. Out of Nashville, Orella has always leaned into melody-first indie pop. And this project feels like her most vulnerable and most pop-forward offering yet.
The album opens with “Like This,” also a standout single, dissipating immersion in the space. With her tender, rich, delicate, and high voice, she sings apologetically, from the middle of emotional exhaustion. She sings, “I can’t give what I don’t have / Can’t make you happy when I’m so sad,” softly refusing the truth that hurts more because it’s so bare and unfixable.
Then “30” takes a late-night drive through milestone dread, its self-awareness lingering like headlights on an empty road. By the time we reach “Lie To Myself,” the beats hit harder, and the confessions get sharper. Orella stays feather-light over tapping percussion, but the lyrics cut deep, as in the refrain, “I lie to my, lie to my, lie to myself,” that spins denial into an addictive loop, in the same cycle of masking and unraveling.
“Blow Up My Life” presses on the dangerous “what ifs,” dangling between recklessness and restraint, while “Cloud9” floats off in the opposite direction. Here, the dreamy, glimmering production turns dissociation into escape, until her angsty surge in the chorus pulls us back down. She sings, “I don’t wanna walk, I wanna fly,” pushing forth the longing and restlessness in fantasy when reality feels too heavy.
Listen to It’s kind of a mess in here by Frankie Orella on Spotify and find every piece hitting home.
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Review by: Naomi Joan