After racking up over 100 million streams and building anticipation to a boiling point, UPSAHL unveils her sophomore EP, Young Life Crisis, today.
With self-aware wit and no holds-barred, the five-track project details the ups and downs of hookups, heartbreak, and hope in the post-millennial multiverse. (Think of it like an Instagram-era Reality Bites!) The EP has its fair share of snappy riffs, quotable observations, and earworm hooks.
Regarding the project, she confessed, “I had a young life crisis this year. As I was gaining clarity and getting hype to grab life by the balls, I was sent home after Day 1 of a 3-month tour and started quarantining. Since then, I temporarily moved back in with my parents, went through a sh*tty breakup, moved back to LA, gained and lost friends, and have discovered new problems that we all go through as I crossed over from 20 to 21. The constant breaking down and repairing made me see the world differently—and it lowkey freaked me out. I know it’s all a part of ‘growing up,’ but no one could prepare you for the growing pains of life during a global pandemic lol. The one flip side is that I got into writing songs over Zoom. It afforded me the ability to write multiple songs with multiple people every day instead of spending hours driving in LA traffic! This EP is the result of all those sessions, narrating my young life crisis. I’ve learned more about myself this year; I’ve grown more as a person than ever before. 2020 has sparked an existential crisis for all of us, so here’s mine. 21-years-old, trying to figure out what I’m doing, and raging through it all.”
Earlier this month, she heralded the EP with the single “MoneyOnMyMind.” The track and music video attracted critical acclaim, Pop Crush praised how the song “swaggers forth with a punchy guitar riff and all the confidence of a criminal mastermind post-heist,” and Billboard named wrote, “UPSAHL, one of Arista Records’ brightest rising stars, exudes badassery.” Flaunt put it best, “More times than not, her lyrics say what we’re all thinking anyway.”
The title track kicks off this trip with a grunge-y guitar riff as she sets the scene, “Meltdown on my best friend’s couch, lines on the table, and boredom in my mouth.” Twinkling piano underscores the refrain, “Young life crisis, loving the taste, hurts so good it’s numbing my brain.” The accompanying music video literally brings these scenes to life as she thrashes an apartment in her wildest visual yet. Watch it HERE.
Meanwhile, “Sad Sorry After Party” hinges on shuddering bass as her night takes a turn for the weird. The EP culminates on the acoustic guitar-laden “Fake Bitch,” which ends on an affirmation, “Don’t ever change b**ch.”
She paved the way for Young Life Crisis with the single “People I Don’t Like”. To date, the track and music video have garnered over 10 million streams and counting. Plus, she unveiled an acoustic “Stripped” version here. Prior, she dropped off the standalone “12345SEX” , posting up over 20 million streams. See full EP tracklisting below.
In other big news, UPSAHL transformed Lizzo’s words from her recent interview on NETFLIX’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction into a viral Instagram acoustic performance. Lizzo reposted it, generating over 2 million views. UPSAHL in turn officially recorded it as “Wanna See Me Run” and dropped it on Soundcloud. Listen to the track HERE
Expanding her influence, she recently co-wrote “Good in Bed” for Dua Lipa’s chart-topping blockbuster, Future Nostalgia, and is currently lending her pen to Madison Beer, Anne-Marie, and many more.
