Indie alternative pop artist Lucy Dacus has released her fourth studio album, “Forever Is A Feeling,” focusing on the present and future while embracing the unknown.
Dacus’ last solo album in 2021, “Home Video,” was introspective and reflective, looking into stories and people from her childhood and young adult years. Now she’s writing about the uncertainty the future holds and finding comfort in it. “You are my best guess at the future,” Dacus sings on “Best Guess.” “This is bliss / This is Hell / Forever is a feeling / And I know it well,” she sings on the title track.
The project came alongside the confirmation that Dacus is in a romantic relationship with boygenius bandmate Julien Baker, whose voice Dacus said shows up on the album.
The most romantic of her albums thus far, her distinct, literal writing style shines in the description of specific moments. “Our formal attire on the floor, in a pile / In the morning I will fold it while you get ready for work / I hear you singing in the shower / It’s a song I showed you years ago,” Dacus sings on “Lost Time,” appreciating the present and making up for missed opportunities of the past. She’s making up for lost time, and it’s visible; she’s being vulnerable and laying herself out for the possibility of connection.
Rumors circulated around Dacus and Baker’s relationship since their 2023 tour with boygenius, but it was all speculation until recently. Baker contributes backing vocals on multiple songs, most notably on “Most Wanted Man,” when they sing, “I’ll have time to write the book on you,” in unison.
Phoebe Bridgers, the third member of boygenius, is also present on the record. Bridgers sang backing vocals on the songs “Forever Is A Feeling” — in which Baker also contributes — along with “Modigliani,” a song Dacus confirmed is about Bridgers.
Dacus’ descriptive songwriting also shines here: “Trying to fall asleep, back flat on the floor / While you were eating continental breakfast in Singapore / You make me homesick for places I’ve never been before / How’d you do that? / How’s tomorrow so far?”
The first full-length album boygenius released in 2023, “the record,” dove into the bonds between the members and how strong their friendship is; it’s warming to see those relationships still present, highlighting the importance of platonic relationships.
“Meeting your family was a trip / Seeing what you got from them / For better or worse / A blessing and a curse,” Dacus sings, drawing a parallel to “the record’s” opening track, “Without You Without Them,” an a capella reflection of history and family ties.
A slight loss on the album, at least compared to “Home Video,” is how similar some of the songs sound. Even after multiple listens, some songs sound just a bit too similar; “Lost Time” and “For Keeps” still blend together. However, “Talk” and “Modigliani” are exceptions. The end of “Lost Time” is also reminiscent of the end of Dacus’s 2017 hit, “Night Shift,” though the messages share no similarities.
“Talk” is certainly a standout, both sonically and with the lyrics themselves, with their specificity and the picture they paint. With a look back at the end of a relationship, it shows how even though Dacus is appreciating her current realities and embracing the future — whatever it holds, however unknown — she is still able to offer retrospective, look-what-I’ve-learned songs. It sounds dark and foreboding, like the first verse describes: “It can be risky after sundown / When the roads turn serpentine / We run out of conversation / Day runs out of light.”
It’s a short song, but it is hard-hitting and perfectly describes the devolution of a relationship with someone you used to have an emotional connection to that has turned into one based on physical intimacy. “Why was our best sex in hotels / And our worst fights / In their stairwells?” Dacus sings right before ending with the understanding of how a relationship can be over before it has officially ended.
Though some songs sound similar to one another — and that can be a drawback — it can also be framed as a strength, a thread that connects the story and lessons Dacus is telling the listener.
The romantic themes are overt in a way they haven’t been before. “Home Video” and “Historian,” Dacus’s previous two solo albums, might have mentioned a romantic relationship but not one that worked out. Here, she is in love, and it’s obvious. The album is simultaneously full of queer joy and resistance while not being falsely optimistic. “How lucky are we to have so much to lose / Now don’t move when I tell you what to do,” Dacus sings in the verse of lead single “Ankles.” She is happy and in love, and the future will work itself out.
“Forever Is A Feeling” is a welcome addition to her discography, and it is all the more interesting knowing the background and easter eggs entangled with boygenius. While the unknown is intimidating, Dacus is choosing to embrace it; forever is a feeling in the most literal sense.
Reach Aubree Miller at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @aubreem07.
