Does Lexi Jayde's Debut Album "LOVER GIRL" Sound Like It Was Made For TikTok? Perhaps, But She Pulls It Off.

The worlds of all three of Lexi Jayde’s projects collide for me upon the release of her debut album LOVER GIRL.

My first memory of Jayde’s music was looping her breakthrough single “Hate To Be You” (2022) while angry about long-forgotten problems in my freshman year of high school. Not long after, I discovered her debut EP a teenage diary, and added its songs, chronicling the end of her teenage years, to my playlist.

Now, LOVER GIRL is there for me as I leave my teenage years more sure of who I am and how to approach life. The album is not about being in love, but is rather about what it means to be a lover girl at heart. Layered with rom-com film creative direction, Jayde dedicates herself wholeheartedly to others and embraces the consequences while developing confidence.

The LOVER GIRL album cover, photo by Katherine Goguen

Let’s start discussing this album by acknowledging the elephant in many music industry rooms right now: songs that sound like they were made for TIkTok.

The melody of “Delusional” scratches my brain exactly right, despite slightly catered-to-TikTok lyrics like, "If he's trying to light up my jealousy/well, he must really, really care about me". “I Feel It All” has an overwrought Lewis Capaldi vibe in the chorus. Still, it aches to hear, “My friend said she saw you at a café, why am I jealous that she saw your face?” The lyrics in both of these songs admittedly feel somewhat manufactured for virality, but I don’t entirely dislike them for it. I respect a commercially successful tactic.

“I’ve Missed You Longer”, a song about the irony of missing someone “longer than I was with you”, was co-written with Grace Enger. This attribution parallels Stella Lefty’s debut album (see my negative review here), which Enger also contributed to. I see more of the intention behind Lefty's manufactured feeling now that Enger shows, on this record, how such writing can still maintain quality. The blandness of “I’ve Missed You Longer”, is in the chord progression, but the song is still great. I do, however, dislike the laziness of the album lead “You’re Still Mine”, about a similar topic to "I've Missed You Longer". A solo Jayde write, it sounds like an easy-to-write brain dump. Rich coming from the critic, I know, but I’ve been writing songs longer than I’ve been reviewing albums. I just don’t find it interesting.

“Misunderstood” and “Jeans” both have incredible builds. The final line in the “Misunderstood” bridge, “At least I loved better, better than you”, is a gut punch. “Jeans”, once again, feels slightly catered toward virality, but has a good message: you’re not alone in hating your body when shopping, “Every time I buy new jeans, I find another problem with me”.

Lexi Jayde, photo by Katherine Goguen

On that note, do you ever feel like your standards are too high, but you don’t want the alternative either? That’s the song “Easier”, but in a romantic sense, “I blame my mother for raising me stronger/told me I’m better alone than to lie with somebody who won’t say they want me”. “Wannabe” also chronicles jealousy, in an Olivia Rodrigo “Lacy” (2023) way. Jayde wants to be the type of cool she only sees in other girls. This connects to another song on LOVER GIRL, “Bubblebath”, in which Jayde begs for reassurance that misery and insecurities aren’t permanent.

The upbeat second single, “Such A Bitch!” feels like a follow-up to “Hate To Be You” (2022) – “You think that you’re hot, oh, you’re not/well, you used to be before you went and slept with someone else” paralleling, “It’s funny how you didn’t cheat with somebody hotter than me" (another manufactured-sounding line from years prior, but I think it works).  

“Sorry for You”, the album opener about closure, is like a part two to both “When Does It End?” (a song, near the end of the album, about never-ending jealousy and inescapability of an ex) and Jayde’s 2022 closer to closure EP. “Sorry for You” calls back to that year, “For three years, I’ve rehearsed this moment in my mirror, and now you’re standing here… thought I’d make you pay for all the hell you put me through, but all I felt was sorry for you”. I unfortunately observe a flaw with this opening track: it sounds like “Stranger” (2023) by Olivia Rodrigo both topically and sonically.

The two love songs, “I Want Him Bad” and “Cool Girl, Tough Guy”, are the only songs that don’t elicit much reaction from me. The former doesn’t build satisfyingly. The latter doesn’t hit melodically, but I like the sentiment of, “I just wanna kiss you when I want to, wanna call you all the time”. I could see the song growing on me.

Lexi Jayde, photo by Katherine Goguen

I loved this album despite having just given a decent amount of negative criticism. I hope to see Jayde perform live soon. You can stream LOVER GIRL here.