Empress Of expertly balances light sounds with heavy lyrics. FABIAN GUERRERO
The first time I listened to Empress Of’s “When I’m With Him,” I took its bright, nostalgic, poppy sound and beguiling title at face value. To me, this was clearly a love song.
It was on the fourth listen that a lyric made me pause: “I feel like I’m on the outside looking in / When I’m with him.” And then another: “I don’t know how to love now, I pretend / When I’m with him.” An out-of-love song unspooled before me. I’d mistaken entrapment for care.
