Following a three-year musical drought, artist Claire Cottrill (better known as Clairo) released her third studio album “Charm” on July 12, an evolution that proved the singer’s influence will last far longer than just her early career success.
When her 2019 debut album “Immunity” released, Clairo easily could have ridden the TikTok wave and continued releasing bedroom-pop hits like “Sofia” and “Bags.” But in her 2021 Jack Antonoff-produced sophomore album, she embraced domesticity and aging in the much folkier “Sling.”
Clairo continued this growth and proved the third time’s the ”Charm” in the Leon Michels-produced album, a homey combination of instrumentals and her trademark soft vocals where the artist explores her relationship with herself and others. And with a runtime of only 38 minutes, it’s short enough that each track can be summarized here.
There’s also “a lot of yearning,” she told the New Yorker earlier this month.
“That’s dating in your twenties — it feels so promising, and then it’s a question mark,” Clairo told the New Yorker. “There’s this cyclical energy that you’re constantly pumping out and experiencing through each person you date, whether it is a four-month casual thing or, like, a two-day love story.”
That vulnerability and openness permeates throughout the album, especially its standout song “Juna.” The song explores a blooming romance that makes the singer express “(you make me wanna) go dancing/(you make me wanna) try on feminine.” Backings from keyboard, bass and even conga support heartfelt lyrics about comfort and femininity and a mouth-trumpet outro.
“Charm” is best listened to “on a walk or in a car” but when moving or lying down is also “fine,” according to a TikTok comment by Clairo. “Juna” is undeniably both a “moving” and “lying down” song.
The album’s opener “Nomad” reflects on remoteness, heartbreak and is “melodramatic and a little horny,” according to Clairo. She weighs emotional connection and “losing everything” on the soulful and introspective track.
The album maintains serenity in the piano-heavy, minimalistic “Terrapin,” a song about embracing the simple things in life and presenting a sense of acceptance.
The yearning continues in the catchy and upbeat “Sexy to Someone,” a piano and flute supported tune where Clairo expresses her want to feel, just as the name states, sexy to someone.
In what feels like a contradiction to many of the other tracks on “Charm,” “Second Nature” is a sappy love song that compares a lover to “sap from a cedar.” Opening with laughter in the background, Clairo sings about a lover that destroys her train of thought.
In “Glory of the Snow,” a grieving Clairo reminisces on losing a lover, someone she still yearns to talk to when she cries. Full of hums and delicate memories, the artist instead finds herself “sweeping under rugs.”
In “Thank You,” Clairo admits she doesn’t put as much effort into a relationship as she would expect. Reflecting on a relationship she knew would end before it began, Clairo thanks them “for the time.”
“Slow Dance” addresses a lover who has “people to turn to” and goes to them instead of Clairo. The track, backed by piano and drums, expresses uncertainties with someone who has one foot out the door.
“Echo” incorporates organ and cymbals to explore a stagnant and dying relationship in which both Clairo and her lover are grappling with its inevitable end. Clairo symbolizes the end of the relationship in the last line of the song, silencing the instrumental as she sings “while our love goes nowhere.”
The catchy “Add Up My Love” tackles memories of an old relationship. Clairo asks if her lover misses the things she would do and if her love was “ever enough.” Drum, piano and bass support a lively flute tune on one of the most danceable tracks on “Charm.”
The album closes with “Pier 4,” a tear-jerker about fearing vulnerability. With the line “what's the cost of it, of being loved?,” Clairo ends the album with just as many questions as she opened it. In an album full of self-discovery, we learn that Clairo still has a lot to learn about herself.
“Charm” is not the continuation of what has so far been a “Brat girl summer,” but with such a short runtime, it leaves us yearning for Clairo’s next project.
Tomer Ronen is the Features Editor for the Daily Cardinal. He has covered protests, state politics, sports and more. Follow him on Twitter at @TRonen22.
