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Give an artist credit for building an aesthetic they can work in. The White Stripes did it, and I feel like Pom Pom Squad might be the most-invested-in-their-visuals musician I have come across since them. I was first intrigued to listen to Pom Pom Squad based on her 2019 album Ow. The album cover paired with the name grabbed me, which is maybe weird to say about album art that features a cheerleader with a black eye. That was a bit of a slimmer release, but in 2021 Pom Pom Squad has blown it out with the more robust release fittingly titled Death of a Cheerleader.
While Pom Pom Squad has definitely hooked into her visuals and motifs, Death of a Cheerleader seems to indicate she hasn’t quite done the same thing with her sound and musical sensibilities. The album consists of 14 songs that kind of run a gamut. There’s an earnest (and quite good) cover of “Crimson + Clover,” some moody, digital-sounding music, and some aggressive rockers that push the tempo. At times she sounds like Japanese Breakfast, and at other times she sounds like Mannequin Pussy. I know those two toured together recently, but I thought it was an odd combo and it’s even odder within the same album from a singular artist.
I was not surprised when I found out Mia Berrin – the woman at the center of Pom Pom Squad – had worked extensively with Sarah Tudzin – aka illuminati hotties – on this album. Illuminati hotties is also a musical act that has a tendency to go all over the place sonically, for better or worse.
That being said, while the album is a hodgepodge that sometimes struggles to feel coherent, there isn’t a single song I dislike. Sometimes lyrically she seems to be playing into her cheerleader theming, but other times the lyrics are just really solid. “Drunk Voicemail” is better than any song called “Drunk Voicemail” has the right to be. On occasion a lyric in a song is really clever and strikes you accordingly, but there is also something to be said about being able to write something as simple as the line, “But I’m sad, I’m just really fucking sad.”
I didn’t listen to Pom Pom Squad’s Death of a Cheerleader and get blown away or have a new favorite album of the year or anything like that. However, I did really enjoy it. I just wish it was a little easier to recommend to people, but it’s eclectic nature makes it hard to pin down who exactly to recommend it to.
