“For Your Consideration” – Empress Of

Album: For Your Consideration

Artist: Empress Of

Year: 2024

Genre: Alt-Pop, Electropop

Grade: B+

Los Angeles alt-pop artist Lorely Rodriguez a.k.a. Empress Of has steadily been building her own stardom ever since her career began in 2015 (her debut Me was confident beyond its years, and every album that has followed has since sharpened her sound). The Berklee grad is adept at combining forward-thinking EDM (influences of house, garage and occasional glitch) with her smooth vocals (a pleasing pop tone that never comes on too strong or lets on too much). Her 2024 album, For Your Consideration, is filled with solid songwriting and catchy hooks and absorbing beats that should have Empress Of flying up the charts. She’s not up there with the likes of Dua Lipa and Kali Uchis quite yet, but the main takeaway from the aurally stimulating For Your Consideration is that she should be, or at least that it’ll only be a matter of time before she is.

Nonetheless, Empress Of’s fourth album isn’t quite as boundary-pushing as her previous releases. She’s slightly scaled back on the Charli XCX-influenced electronica in favor of some Rina Sawayama-inspired R&B (Sawayama even features on the standout “Kiss Me”), but that doesn’t mean she’s lost her edge. As far as pop stars go, Rodriguez puts more thought into her backing tracks than most, which is why the album is pleasing even if the lyrics aren’t always relatable or profound. (Her lyrics are your standard 2020s pop star subject matter, sometimes sung in Spanish to provide a slight switch-up.)

The 11 songs in 32 minutes makes for a breezy listen, especially when For Your Consideration features such great sonics. If she ever fully integrates substance into the equation, then look out, Billboard, here we come. Until then, Empress Of has sonics to spare  — the main draw of the album being the combo of good singing and good EDM.

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