Jay Z once said in “Song Cry,” “When a good girl’s gone bad, she’s gone forever,” but is that true? In the past, Dallas-based producer and singer Liv.e has written many songs not only about falling in love but also about the disgust of having the option of fuckboys to choose from. So much so, that her trademark singing over jazz-infused beats became the soundtrack to this romantic yet skeptical side of her. That being said, the first song “Bad Girl!” on her latest album PAST FUTUR.e finds Liv.e with a brand new attitude and sound. Right?
Well, the synthpunk opener “Bad Girl!” does assume the character of the kind of girl who’ll “piece your heart in two.” The drums stomp with iron-fisted authority, keys dance in an almost nagging daze, while the synths and vocals blend in a manner made to madden its subject. If lace doesn’t do the job, this bad girl character wears the most shapely piece of leather that she could find. Liv.e’s bad girl persona says the nastiest shit in bed, and you will think it’s fucking awesome, but you will be mistaken if you believe that it is as simple as pi to attain on your time. On “Bad Gir!” Liv.e has the leash on a tight grip. “You saw me coming fast, so you unlocked the door / You want the sting to last, it keeps you coming back,” Liv.e declares. Whether that sting is of “good pussy” or of a punch in the jaw is up to your imagination.
Liv.e’s stylistic detour into minimal wave is a red herring. After all, Liv.e has always exercised interest in experimenting with different sounds and ideas, but on PAST FUTUR.e, experimenting with coldwave is integral to her icy cold persona. On the album, she confronts and mourns a ne’er-do-well father on “Poor Daddy,” a song that sounds like a red-eyed Com Truise collaborating with Woven In. She also explores the option of choosing herself over the act of overextending herself on “Maybe It’s Time,” a song with a skeletal reggae rhythm and few synth pads flourish. “Baby says it’s time to save the world now / Maybe it’s time to think of yourself,” she sings, and as willing as she is to do just that, the act of being cold only lasts so long. That is where the emotionally naked and scattered “Mashed Feelings” comes in.
“Mashed Feelings”, a track boasting rolling steel drums and bass, is a freeform song where the bad girl persona slowly melts away and hard emotions get faced. “I’m really mad at you / You took me way too far,” sings Liv.e before later revealing the following lines:
You really make me happy
You make me wanna stay along
I took off my rose glasses
You had me in a fog all along
PAST FUTUR.e’s title hints at Liv.e’s nod towards 70s and 80s synthpop and new wave, but, again, that becomes a red herring once you realize it is another solid concept album from Liv.e, but more about heartbreak than love. It’s about using heartlessness and nonchalance as a form of coping, but finding it doesn’t always work in one’s favor. PAST FUTUR.e is a fun, scathing hell ride of an album that can only make you question where life and music will take her next. It is also what it sounds like when the good girl only goes bad to have some control over what happens.
