Welcome back to my long neglected music blog. As I am in the last few months of my PhD, I am going to approach things slightly differently than before, at least for now. Rather than doing a weekly roundup of a lot of different albums, EPs and songs, I'm going to review various albums that came out in 2026 at my own pace. This allows me to both listen to and review music, which I love doing, and also allows me to actually get my thesis work done at the same time.
Like before, this blog will focus almost exclusively on pop music, broadly defined. I am a massive fan of pop music, and I am in awe of many of the artists who contribute to making the genre a really interesting musical space, one that is often overhated for being 'generic' or uninteresting. There are so many fantastic artists, including the massive ones, but also some neglected names that make some really good music.
That being said, I am not a fan of all forms of pop music. I do not like folk pop, bedroom pop and genres like that, usually speaking. Alt/indie pop can be hit and miss for me. My favourite genres (and yes, I know there's debates about what is a genre here) would likely be electropop, hyperpop, and other genres like that. I just wanted to be clear that some albums will suffer from my inevitable biases. Something can have fantastic lyrics, but for me, if I don't like listening to it, it's a bust!
Also, while I really like music, I'm no music professional, and nor do I intend for my ramblings to be taken super seriously. These are my opinions! I love to hear disagreements about how you loved or hated a song I liked, but I'm no professional music critic! This is just done out of a love of music and discovering new music.
Having got that out of the way, let's get to the first album.
Maisie Peters - Florescence:
Mary Janes: Almost immediately, Maisie Peter's vocals shine through. She has this really lovely voice that shines through, and especially does here. It's cool to open up your album with a reference to the fairly viral hate posts about Maisie opening for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour. And then knock it down by talking about being in love, and those previous hurts not mattering. It's an interesting departure from some of her previous work, a lot of heartbreak. The song doesn't have that much going for it production wise - it's quite chill. There's a nice little guitar and piano in places. It's a pretty song and a good opener to the album. BUT - and this is the key point - it's just not that interesting production wise for me. It's a pleasant listen but I don't think I'd ever choose to actively listen to it. 6/10
Audrey Hepburn: It definitely feels like this album has country influences to it, but chiller so far. The first verse does not win me over at all, both the vocals and the production just feel 'off' for me. The chorus does well to redeem that. It's sung in a catchy way, and sounds a lot better than the verses. I find myself just wanting the chorus to start again in the verses. The chorus is a lot fuller in general, with layered vocals and various instruments. Anyway, unfortunately, the verses are enough to drag the song down. And the ending is rather abrupt, after a nice closing section. So that does not help either. 6/10
Say My Name In Your Sleep: This perhaps seems more energetic. I'm less of a fan of the background vocals in the song this far. They take me out of the song a bit. The repeating vocals do not work for me either. It's a pleasant enough listen, but again, I just do not find myself that interested by it. The most interesting part was probably the instrumental break, it shook up the song in an engaging way. A nice enough listen with the soft production but again, there's still too much I don't like to rank it higher. 6/10
Old Fashioned: The chorus is a highlight for me, and honestly, this song most reminds me of the older Maisie Peters songs I really liked. The verses are not quite there, but it's still a good song. The production is interesting here, and I can feel the emotion in this song, in both the production and the vocals. The bridge again is a highlight! Definitely the best song on the album so far. The ending is way too abrupt though - why??? 7/10
Houses: Nice guitar, as well as a nice showcase of Maisie's voice again. Even though this is chilled again, I can feel the emotion in it. It's an interesting song, focusing on a 'what if' situation that I'm sure many people have thought of before with regards to previous relationships. I definitely used to before. I liked the bridge especially again. However, yet again, although it was a pleasant listen, it's just nothing that I really want to return to. It is pleasant, and that is all for me. At least the ending was not abrupt! 6/10
Kingmaker (with Julia Michaels): I do not like Julia's vocals here, nor do I like the combination of both of them, sorry! I don't think it works, I am a #hater. This song is probably the worst so far. You know, sometimes I'm a hater of songs becoming louder part of the way through, this is one of them. I don't think it fits, and it took me out of the otherwise chiller vibe. Yeah, I am not a fan of this. It's just a bit of a mess. The repetitive 'kingmaker' parts are just too loud for no reason and boring, honestly. 4/10
Vampire Time: We're back to another simple guitar. And a drum, nevermind! It's just another song that is decent and pleasant to listen to, but no more. The guitar and combo with her vocals is decent, and the chorus is again better, but it's still just fine. 6/10
My Regards: This is something different! Good! I'm intrigued right from the start. I feel like the chorus didn't quite live up to expectations from the build up, but it was still good. This is good! It feels like a country-pop ish bop, and I appreciate that. The way it's sung is also interesting and different from the rest of the album so far! I don't like the way it ends but whatever. This was good! I wish more of it was on this level! 7/10
You You You: Using a vocoder on this album seems like...a choice. But I guess we'll see where it goes. It was an interesting intro but it feels like the vocoder part just doesn't connect to the next part of the song. Weird. The 'you, you, you' (and so on) part is decent (not really the distant background vocals there). But I think this song falls into the category of 'decent' but not really that interesting. I'd honestly give it a 5.5/10 but I'm too generous and I don't do decimal ratings so... 6/10
If You Let Me (with Marcus Mumford): Another guitar song, I guess. Her vocals don't shine through here as much. Just a bit boring, honestly. Marcus was a jumpscare, his voice is NOT a nice contrast, and I do not like it on this song. They do not work together, sorry, it sounds like ass. Bad song! 4/10
Flat Earther: Finally, a song for me! Not a fan of the 'I-I-I' parts. Honestly, I get what the song is going for, but I don't know...I still don't like how it uses the idea of a 'flat earther' in this context. I'm criticising when I don't know how I would do better, but still. There were some interesting production elements in the background (...synths?), but it's yet another 'pleasant, but fine' song overall, with some flaws. 6/10
Questions: This was different again. Good. I like the delivery. It falters a bit after the introduction but I still like it. The actual questions part (the chorus I guess?) is the best part. The rest of it doesn't quite get there. The background vocals do not work here again. This was a welcome change of pace, and an overall good song, and despite some of the...meh parts, I can more look past them here, and it was good. Weird and interesting outro too. 7/10
Girl's Just Flying: I do not like the start of this, uh oh. The chant like vocals...no thanks! Bad! Does not sound good! That chorus is...not good. There's parts that are catchy here and there...but it just does not sound good overall, so...no. 4/10
You Then Me Now: It's another slow song. It's fine. Maisie's voice is good here again. It gets better later in the song, to be fair. Kinda just boring and existed as a song overall. That's it. 5/10
Nothing Like Being In Love: Is this the typical Piano-Ballad-To-End-The-Album-TM? Nice piano, to be fair. I guess the bridge is a bit more interesting, although it maybe goes a bit too 'loud', if that makes sense? Not really feeling it, though. It's a song that happened. Nothing at all really stood out to me, beyond the 'piano' being nice. I guess it's a thematic nice end to the album? Maybe? 5/10
Overall Verdict: Judging by the album cover, I never expected this to be a favourite album of mine, and it was not. Artists are of course free to do whatever they want, but this is a massive downgrade for me from The Good Witch, which was an exceptional album, and one of my favourite albums of 2023. There are a few songs that break the monotonous country-folk pop streak of the rest of the album, and do something interesting, but not many. There are also a few songs that just sound bad, and I am especially critical of the collaborations - they did not work, and would have sounded better as solo songs. However, for most of the album, it was simply 'pleasant', 'fine' and 'Maisie has nice vocals' going through my head. Not an album I'd ever return to, nor will I take any songs from it, but I can imagine thinking differently if you really like this genre of music, which I do not.
Favourite lyric: "A bookshelf full of women that you won't read, if you're honest" (Houses)
This line really stuck out to me in a good way because of its calling out of performative feminism by toxic men. It is done in a good way, one that fits really well in the song, sounds good, and doesn't feel inserted for the sake of it. I like it when songs make critiques like this well, and Maisie certainly does that here.
Least favourite lyric: "Where there was push, now there is pull" (Audrey Hepburn)
Look, I don't care why a lyric was put there and what message it is trying to send if it makes me cringe, and that is what this particular line did. It took me out of the song and made me actually add this section, which shows you just how bad that particular line is. Yikes. I see other publications refer to it as a 'wow' moment, but I just can't agree with that.