Review of ‘Pop! Magic! Tragedy!’, Cariño’s new album

The discography of Dear It has been, in some ways, like the life of any young adult navigating their twenties towards their thirties: a roller coaster. And his songs have been the best reflection of that journey. His debut, “Moves”placed three girls on the map of Spanish pop – or tontipop, a label that they have never finished claiming, but that critics have been responsible for placing on them – with a handful of anthems, eighties rhythms and adolescent lyrics that sounded like Tamagotchi. Then it came “Dear”their self-titled album, in which they seemed more like themselves than ever and which includes one of their greatest hits, “If you like”. Later, with “So much to do”published two years ago, we began to listen to some Dear more mature and with a sound that pointed towards a new stage.

Now, with “Pop! Magic! Tragedy!” and with the breakup of the original line-up, Paola Rivero and Alicia Ros have decided to do whatever they wanted on their first album as a duo. Without too many expectations or the pressure of having to fit into a specific sound, they return with a work that is something of a first album: that freedom of those who still have nothing to prove and simply want to experiment.

This project has been produced together with Pete Robertson and forged, largely, in London, at the legendary Abbey Road studios. There are very recognizable influences from the sounds of the 2000s and mid-2010s, guitars close to twee pop and echoes of bands like The Cardigans, Best Coast, The Strokes, The Vaccines or Alvvays, along with other female references such as Lily Allen, Hilary Duff or Avril Lavigne. However, not all songs follow the same path. Because if something defines this new album, it is precisely that desire not to have to define itself.

The album opens with “Therapy”, a song that refers to the first Dear and that ease that they have always had to turn their emotions into hymns. The curious thing is that the entrance door to the album was more shocking: “I hate music” was published last May, disconcerting those who were hoping to rediscover the group’s most recognizable sound. By closing the album we can also understand it as a door to another sound, a darker pop.

In “Fucking Winter”another of the advances along with “Romantic”they recover the “bad temper” of their beginnings, and a rage that connects with that current of female rage that runs through much of current music and their own album. They have also included a bossa nova, a Brazilian genre born in the fifties that the band had been wanting to incorporate into their repertoire for some time and they have achieved it with “The lives of others.”

The result is a more organic, sincere and less constricted work than some of the previous ones. With more street. The songs sound more naked, with less artifice and a production that lets the guitars and voices breathe. There is also an interesting change in the distribution of prominence. The new stage allows us to listen to Paola much more, who occupies the center of “I imagine” and “Heavy Metal”.

“Pop! Magic! Tragedy!” It’s a breakup album. Not only sentimental, but also personal and professional. There is nostalgia, a certain melancholy and a lot of looking back, but not from defeatism. Honey, they still want to play, to make mistakes and to try new things. It’s like that category they now put in Netflix movies and series: optimistic.