22 Nov 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Jupita - EP Review: Want You Back

16 Nov 2023 // A review by Danica Bryant

Julia Morris is a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter hailing from Auckland, stepping out as indie-pop soloist Jupita on the debut EP Want You Back.

Whilst the opening track's title Anxiety might fool you into thinking this will be a heavy moment and collection, this number is actually incredible fun. It's a bright, catchy tune about a person who makes promises they can't keep, with a laughing melodic hook that will stick in your head for hours. "I'm pathetic in a feel-good way", she smiles, in on every self-deprecating joke. Sharp guitars and digital sparks build a 90's feel with a youthful modern twist, defining Jupita powerfully from the get-go. She embraces her Kiwi accent for a quirky vocal sound, making each song's snappy, wordy lyrics feel light and tongue-in-cheek.

Want You Back details a hyper-specific sapphic relationship over Y2K-inspired production. Morris counts text messages, mourns the loss of a red jacket (perhaps a reference to cult classic queer performer girl in red.) and shouts out fellow indie artist Courtney Barnett, painting an uncomfortably real picture of pining for someone long gone.

It's followed by the moodier Stop, which features Oasis-esque guitars and a raw, nostalgic chorus. By this point, Jupita's artistic identity has become clearly distilled. She deliberately queers the conversational lyrical style of current pop, and melds it to the upbeat, subtly punky sonic direction of 2000's teen movies, making for something relentlessly joyful even in its sadder moments.

Ur So Annoying and All Messed Up bookend the EP and solidify this idea. Jupita adopts casual slang without it feeling soon-to-be-dated on each song, with text speak titles and plain, shrugging lines like, "I'm getting tired of all the stress and stuff". The pumping sound and conflicted feelings on All Messed Up particularly seal off the project's theme of recovering from one specific relationship nicely. Jupita pulls in the grief, discomfort, love and frustration into one punchy track, that allows listeners to get through their feelings and simply shake it out on the dancefloor.

It's rare for a musical project to click with its audience on first listen, but Jupita does just that with the impressively concise and fun Want You Back EP. Indeed, once it's over, you'll crave the experience to start all over again, so make sure to hit play and repeat on this thrilling new endeavour as soon as you can.

 

Releases

Want You Back
Year: 2023
Type: EP

Other Reviews By Danica Bryant

Adam Hattaway & The Haunters - Album Review: High Horse
07 Nov 2024 // by Danica Bryant
Marking their sixth album in six years, High Horse is the latest impressive release from Christchurch powerhouses Adam Hattaway and the Haunters. Unlike the boisterous rock and roll ventures which precede it, High Horse is an intimate, eerie project made with a small group of collaborators.
Read More...
Tess Liautaud - Album Review: Blue Mind
25 Oct 2024 // by Danica Bryant
As the modern musical generation dive headfirst into digital production, home studios and the art of the solo performance, it’s hard to remember the days of the traditional, all-out band jam session. But Tess Liautaud’s beautiful sophomore record Blue Mind proves that lifestyle is alive and well in Otautahi.
Read More...
Claudia Robin Gunn - Album Review: Little Wild Learning
16 Sep 2024 // by Danica Bryant
The art of writing children's music is deceptively harder than people might expect. The songs are easy to listen to and lyrically simple, but they must incorporate educational vocabulary, introduce new ideas about life, and maintain a catchiness that gives young listeners a fun experience, rather than one that could be overwhelming.
Read More...
Nur Peach - Album Review: Syncopate
21 Jun 2024 // by Danica Bryant
Coromandel Peninsula's Nur Peach is fresh off a bachelor's degree in Pop Music and is immediately "gathering momentum" to realize her dream of releasing an album. Syncopate is an eclectic pop-folk and adult contemporary record full of motivational coming-of-age material, produced in collaboration with Auckland's Scott Seabright.
Read More...
Valere - EP Review: Gold Dust
10 Jun 2024 // by Danica Bryant
Christchurch performer Valere has built an impressive catalogue over the past decade, and her latest EP Gold Dust is no exception. Informed by recent years of experiences with motherhood, marriage and familial love and loss, Valere rediscovered the simplicity of songwriting on the guitar, and has now shared six powerful tracks motivated by this artistic return.
Read More...
Aro - Album Review: He Rakau, He Ngarara
21 Apr 2024 // by Danica Bryant
Tamaki Makaurau based husband & wife duo Charles & Emily Looker, otherwise known as Aro, escape genre boundaries on their fourth body of work, He Rakau, He Ngarara. Aro's waiata draw from country and folk, jazz, and shades of haka, making for a collection that often purposefully creates sonic whiplash in a stunning exploration of sound and kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga.
Read More...
Gig Review: Homegrown 2024 @ Wellington Waterfront - 16/03/2024 Part 1
17 Mar 2024 // by Danica Bryant
By some miracle, Homegrown 2024 hits a home run and finds Welly on an infamous good day this Saturday, 16th March. That sun is blazing down as the fairground rides and colourful outfits roll out onto the waterfront.
Read More...
Amiria Grenell - Album Review: The Winter Light
12 Mar 2024 // by Danica Bryant
Otautahi folk singer Amiria Grenell boasts many accolades to her name, and her new album The Winter Light will surely add to the pack. This is a cozy collection of classic folk songs, grounded in nature, family and the endless search for true peace.
Read More...
View All Articles By Danica Bryant

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem