Taylor Upsahl, also known as UPSAHL, released her sophomore EP titled Young Life Crisis on Friday, Oct. 30. The album is a reflection of the past year for UPSAHL, following a change in scenery with her move from Arizona to Los Angeles. She talks about her experiences, as well as her growth in music with five new songs on the album.

The album starts with Young Life Crisis, one of my favorite songs on the album. The song talks about going through a young life crisis but ending every night with a drink to hold down the disappointment. The echoes in the beginning of the song leave a euphoric and dramatic touch. It tells the listeners that they have to wake up and come back to reality. The same emotion is felt throughout the song making it both interesting and energetic.

Next is MoneyOnMyMind, a collaboration with Absofacto, also known as Jonathan Visger. Contrary to the title, MoneyOnMyMind isn’t about earning money. Instead, it’s about knowing your worth. You can have all the money in the world and still feel miserable. The song talks about recovering after every weak moment and hustling for the life you want. The powerful message, the guitar bass, and the drums in this song are brilliantly executed. I love how UPSAHL doesn’t center her musical themes on love, like many other artists do. Her imagination spreads like a wildfire, creating a vast portfolio of interesting topics.

People I Don’t Like comes after. UPSAHL absolutely killed it with the sarcasm in this song. One of the best things I love about her music is that it’s easy to distinguish the mood and where sarcasm is used. The song talks about how fake the music industry is. She goes to countless amounts of meetings and parties only to meet the same people and exchange the same contact information knowing that they’ll never talk again. Everyone she meets is fake, and she has to match their personalities in order to succeed. The song was brutally honest and depicted a clear story of how the music industry operates.

Despite the catchiness found throughout UPSAHL’s new album, a lot of the songs sounded similar. There weren’t any stellar note changes throughout the album. Adding some high notes to the backgrounds of many songs including MoneyOnMyMind would have intensified the song and created a bigger effect on the theme. However, overall, UPSAHL did a wonderful job of portraying the messages she sought to get across and showing emotion within each song. With such a unique voice and style of music, I’m confused as to why she isn’t more well-known, especially since she has been in the music industry since 2013. This album was definitely a step up from a previous album, Hindsight 20/20, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for UPSAHL.