"spilling my guts": Alyssa Grace album review

This past Friday, Alyssa Grace, a rising Gen-Z indie-folk-pop artist, released her debut EP, spilling my guts. Grace blew up this year for her devastating breakup songs riddled with explicit, blunt lyrics and controversial vocal flips. A vocal flip is essentially a mini-yodel: a rough sounding quick transition between head and chest voice. Depending on the listener, this technique is hit-or-miss, but I'd argue that "devastated" is exactly the mood for which vocal flips are meant, thanks to the rawness they bring out in singer’s voices.

The spilling my guts EP cover

In that vein, I must admit that I’m slightly biased in Grace's favor as I review this EP. I began following Grace on Instagram about six months before her debut single came out. I don’t mean “Dog With A Bone”, her oldest song on streaming services, which came out this February. I mean “Breathe”, a relatively stripped song about anxiety, released in late 2020. During quarantine, I discovered a lot of new artists, many of whom I swore would be huge one day. Of those, about half are still kicking around in the music industry. A small but mighty number has proven me completely right, making Grace one of my flexes six years down the line.

Grace strays far from where she’d put early listeners with her early removed releases. Instead of maintaining her old soothing and ambitious but tame sound, spilling my guts, well, guts you. Grace tells of a toxic relationship, and no topic is off limits: sex, drugs, alcohol, religion, emotional abuse, gender roles, you name it. None of these things are hinted at, nor are they considerably metaphorical. They’re stated loud and clear:

“You told me I wasn’t what you had asked God for/sex couldn’t save us, you always wanted more and more” (“Bones”)

“I’d rather you have someone than start abusing again” (“Somebody to Somebody”)

“The weed makes you sweet, that’s why I keep getting high”

“The world and the way that we move makes a bitch out of me and a man out of you” (“Dog With A Bone”)

“When we’re done fucking, you’re not satisfied” (“Picking Petals”)

“You used to stay sober, you used to stay clean, ‘cause you know what all that shit did to me” (“Spilling Guts”)

“I should’ve known that you’d gone mad when I saw the way you’d punch your doors” (“Bloodstream”)

“You’re not less of a man for asking for help when your burns and your scars show” (“Baby Swim (with Andrew Lucier)”)

This bluntness is powerful and suits the dismal instrumentals. The EP is led by strong acoustic guitar, minor keys, and other instrumentation matching the roughness of Grace’s vocals. It’s a type of production that I most commonly observe in depressed-British-man music. While I can’t say I’m a fan of that style in most contexts, Grace does it in a way that I’m a massive fan of. The creative direction is perfect.

On that note, there seems to be a small elephant in the room. People have been calling Grace out for “stealing” the concept of Olivia Rodrigo’s 2023 album GUTS. I don't think anyone’s entirely wrong for mentioning it – I would be very, very surprised if Grace wasn’t inspired by the superstar’s sophomore album. However, what’s done is done, if it works, it works, and it does. The EP is splendid. Nothing is on-the-nose enough for me to see a copyright lawsuit coming soon, so I don’t see much to ponder here.

Alyssa Grace performed, and then some. Listen to spilling my guts on all platforms now.