On her second record, Daya takes catchy pop hooks, dresses them fashionably in impeccable production, and whisks them to the dance floor, where the party is more intense than insane in an electropop world that is meticulously crafted and slick as glass.
Starting the album with a bang, “Infrared” has aggressive beats and ominous metallic textures, evocative of when Eighties synth-pop started to incorporate mysterious clanging sampled sounds as it was starting to become dark. Equally beat-heavy and stylish are “Drift Away” and “Recent Memories” that swap the intensity with warm vocals and sweet choruses.
As fabulous as the electrifying dance numbers on Til Every Petal Drops are, its slower tracks are simply heavenly, revealing a more sublime kind of beauty that this album has to offer. “Petals,” “Falls,” and “Sugar Rush” all have supremely divine choruses.
But there is nothing as transcendental as the album’s gentlest number “Losing A Friend” which, while an ordinary love song in its lyrical expression, is a profound musical experience. As Daya laments over what went wrong with her lover, the music behind her is shifting shapes with an aural serenity and enigma, being both cinematic and surreal, as she explores the world outside her musical comfort zone and offers something strange and otherworldly.
On the other hand, she plays it completely safe on “Wild Side,” “Agnostic,” and “Matador,” where she is just another plain vanilla pop artist. These are still slickly-produced songs, but as far as composition and hooks go, are little more than passable.
Taken collectively, Til Every Petal Drops definitely finds Daya aiming for something more challenging than creating music that’s simply ear-grabby. The album gives the listener enough space to explore facets beyond ones that are superficially hooky. The single “Demise” makes a good case for this on the album’s behalf: a song that balances an in-your-face piercing instrumental hook—resembling the Indian instrument Shehnai—that some might find grotesquely out of place, with a savvy dance-music arrangement that is so enticing that you will find yourself falling for it, regardless.