Snow Angel Ranking
12. Willow
While "Willow" is a beautiful track, there is something kind of lacking to me. It's a bit too repetitive for my liking both in its lyrics and melody, and it just doesn't do much for me overall.
11. The Wedding Song
"The Wedding Song" was just kind of boring in my opinion. It is in no way a skip (none of the songs on this album are), but it's just not one that I find myself going back and listening to unless I'm listening to the entire album on vinyl.
10. Tummy Hurts
This is a VERY controversial rating, but here it is. Yes, I like "Tummy Hurts" as much as the average TikTok user, but the lyrics just aren't as strong as her other tracks on the album. There's a lack of a rhyme scheme and it just feels a bit too immature in comparison to other songs she's written. Perhaps it's just me, but I don't think hoping your ex has monster-like children and that someone will hurt his daughter the way she was hurt by him in the future is indicative of someone trying to move on. I guess, looking at it from another perspective, it might be her thought process in the moment after a breakup, something that we would never actually want to happen to someone, but something about it is nice to think about.
9. So What Now
Have you ever had that one person you had a bad-blood falling-out with and now all of a sudden they're back in your small town. Your first thought is "how dare they?" even though they also lived here too. Then in all your huff and puff, you're still kinda waiting for them to reach out to you and get a bit butt-hurt when they don't. It's a complicated situation. Reneé keeps trying to find her next move but can't seem to come to a good conclusion. Should they meet up? Should she stay clear of them?
8. I Hate Boston
I, personally, don't hate Boston (I've never been there, so I have no reason to hate it). I still don't quite understand through the lyrics exactly why Reneé hates Boston, but it seems to stem from her going to the hometown of a potential new partner but quickly finds out that they don't feel for her the same way that she does and it makes her hate the city because it's here that event took place.
7. 23
I was 23 when this song came out, and it made me feel so understood. When you're a teenager, you think things will be so much better in your 20s only to get there and find that you're still searching for that happiness and fulfillment you were 5 years ago. There's that expectation that you become independent of other people's perception of you once you reach an age like 23, but you're still constantly worried about what your friends, family, and the world are thinking of you. When Reneé ends the song singing about how, when she turns 24, she hopes for a better outcomes but realizes it may just be the same turnout is haunting and real as the album's closing track.
6. Gemini Moon
Whenever I'm being kind of a bitch to my partner, I always try to find something to blame other than myself. In reality, I should really just be a nicer person and I get sick of my behaviour just as much as my partner does. In Reneé's case, she tries to blame her Gemini moon sign as to why she can't decide how she feels, but she realizes that she should just be better to her partner instead of getting in her own head at the expense of her relationship.
5. I Wish
I've been trying to explain my fear of death for years, but could never find the right words. Reneé perfectly sums up this feeling in less than 4 minutes in a beautiful acoustic song in which the chords remind me of some of my favorite James Taylor ballads. There's a certain mourning that cannot be described because we don't know what it's like to die, but we feel a sense of loss that hasn't happened yet. Hearing this song for the first time made me cry, and while it may not be very high on many people's lists, it is on mine for a very personal reason.
4. Talk Too Much
As far as opening tracks go, this one SLAPS. Not only is it extremely catchy, but it's also incredibly relatable. There's this kind of strange thing early in relationships where we think something and then feel bad for thinking it or try to compensate for the thought, then get caught up in trying to over-correct ourselves, that it just ends up with us putting our foot in our mouth. At the end of the bridge, when Reneé mumbles "do you still love me?" after she basically told someone she probably didn't want to be with them forever is literally something I did at the very beginning of relationships.
3. Pretty Girls
As a bisexual myself, the thing I absolutely HATE is when straight women say, "well, if I was gay, I'd definitely go for you". This seems to be a pretty universal experience in the lives of LGBTQ+ women, where we're kind of flattered by comments like those, but it's also like "shut the fuck up, we're not your experiment". Reneé hits this pretty on the nose, where a straight woman has maybe used to her explore her bicuriosity but then try to forget like it even happened.
2. Poison Poison
I love me a good "fuck you" song, especially when it comes to that girl you really, really hate. Tell me if I'm out to lunch, but the vibe of this really reminds me of early 2020 quarantine, specifically "Supalonely" by BENEE. "Poison Poison" is on my constant rotation and I just love how much fun Reneé is having in this track and really accentuates her charmingly blunt personality.
1. Snow Angel
The titular track is definitely my favorite on the album by a long stretch. The gorgeous piano opening and Reneé's lilty soprano give me goosebumps every time, and the buildup in the chorus is orgasmic. She really knew what she was doing with this one. Finding out after its release that it's about her traumatic experience of being drugged and going missing for 7 hours makes it that much more personal.
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