Tove Lo Showcases Sex and Sentiment on Latest Album ‘Blue Lips’

Jordan Bailey

Swedish songstress Tove Lo returns with a follow up to her sexually-charged 2016 album “Lady Wood.” Titled “BLUE LIPS (Lady Wood Phase II),” the album continues her quest for sexual liberation with sensual, vibey, electronic-laced pop tracks leading the way. As the singer’s third full-length, Tove Lo seems more comfortable in her own skin, and with her own voice, than ever before.

The album is split up into two chapters: “LIGHT BEAMS” and “PITCH BLACK.” The former represents that last ditch effort to take a relationship to the next level, namely, through sexual exploits. This kicks off the album on a high note made apparent by the spaced-out intro where she calls herself the “Motherfucking queen of the discotheque.” This, leading into the NSFW single “disco tits,” a tune that finds Tove experimenting with a fresh new sound. The glamourous beat features a deep house rhythm and superb breaks crafted by her longtime production partners The Struts. Lyrically, this is Tove at her most raw: “I’m sweat from head to toe/I’m wet through all my clothes/I’m fully charged, nipples are hard/Ready to go.” It’s easy to sing along to, refreshingly candid and undeniably catchy, all points which have now become staples of her music. “Shivering Gold” picks up right where “disco tits” leaves off; i.e. with plenty of sex references including a cadenced rundown of cunnilingus with another woman. “Stranger” too discusses a sexually-charged evening but with an emotionally dark tinge, while “Bitches” is nothing if not explicit when it comes Tove’s experimentation with sex with a woman. All these tunes, explicit or not, are expertly crafted and speak to her progression one of the leading pop stars around the world.

When it comes to the second and final chapter, “PITCH BLACK,” Tove turns to gloom, to hopelessness, to the come down. “Romantics” marks the first bit in this chapter. Featuring Nigerian-born MC Daye Jack, the song uses drugs as a metaphor for the addiction of romance, a prologue for the melancholy to come. Soft house makes another appearance on “Struggle” where she turns to the emotional tussles of a non-communicative relationship. The “PITCH BLACK” chapter is introspective, possible more so than she’s ever been before. Tove has said that many of these songs started off as very personal poems, which she then put to music. And in fact, the B-side tunes like “9th of october,” “bad days” and the closing “hey you got drugs?” forgo the voice modulation found on the first half of the record for more sentimental, ballad-esque synth cuts.

Lo has said “Blue Lips” is the last of the so-called “Lady Wood” story that she’s been entrenched in these past few years. That said, who knows where she’ll head next. These past few albums have been such a fun ride, watching her spread her metaphorical wings across America, exposing the industry to her feminist girl-power agenda. It’s something the pop music world really needed. If this is the end of this portion of her career, “Blue Lips” was a more than solid way to tie the knot. What’s even more encouraging is that the chapter closed not with a vapid sex-crazed shock factor, but with sincerity and true, vivid emotion.

“BLUE LIPS (Lady Wood Phase II)” is available Nov. 17 on Apple Music.