Anna of the North’s second studio album Dream Girl is an honest, heartfelt, fascinating pastiche of the various styles, forms, personalities, themes and genres that the twenty-eight-year-old Norwegian singer-songwriter has been exploring throughout her career.

With the lead single ‘Leaning on Myself’ delving into the heavy, bass-driven moodiness of the eighties, Anna of the North champions the significance of self-love in the face of loneliness and pain. Her lyrics contain depth far beyond that usually seen in electronic pop mixes, yet she calls forth the genre to her advantage, letting the pulsating rhythm of the bass and the contemplative percussive arrangement lift her vocals forward. 

To accurately develop this emotion of listlessness, she drags and holds her voice, taking her time on each note, each echo of her voice underlining the gloominess. Despite the slow-burn design of the composition, Anna of the North doubles down on the chorus, inserting a choir-esque backdrop in which her words are recited back to her by a crowd of her imagination; it just goes to show the universality of her message. 

The second single ‘Used to Be’ similarly dives into the kooky stylings of the eighties, this time accompanied by a range of synth play at the beginning. Anna of the North may not be the only contemporary artist looking back at the decades gone by for inspiration but she exudes a poetic sensibility in all her melodies. ‘Used to Be’ is part-nostalgia, part-frustration, reflecting on a relationship that went sour due to the other person putting their material needs before Anna herself. She is able to converse through her songs, framing them as an outlet for her well of thoughts---a sign of genuine artistry. 

Anna of the North has provided information previously on the album set to be released today, which was mostly recorded amidst a breakup. She says:

Half of the album is going to be love and then the other half is going to be just a copy of Lovers (laughs). It's different vibes going on, as a human and an artist I've grown a lot and I've worked a lot. I feel more confident in what I'm doing and I feel more confident in my ideas.”

  Singer-songwriter