The electric alternative pop L.A. based trio MUNA released their second studio album titled “Saves the World” on September 6th, 2019. Lead vocalist, Katie Gavin, guitarist Josette Maskin and multi-instrumentalist Naomi McPherson all worked their efforts to create a work of art that is “Saves the World” producing music that deals with heavy topics such as addiction, alienation and romantic rejection. The album had a very road trip background vibe to it, similar to their first album, “About U,” where they laid the foundation to their known electro-pop-rock sound. 

The leading record, “Grow”, is the perfect introduction to this album: a short, beautiful, and melodic piano ballad with equally beautiful lyrics and vocals. The lyrics, especially, are what touched me the most because they’re relatable yet unique at the same time, showing the concise message of wanting to move on from something that has been lingering in your life. Lyrics like “I want to grow up, I want to put away my childish things, I think that I’m ready to take this song off repeat,” show the very simple, yet complex writing style. Gavin describes her songwriting as “thinking with [her] heart,” which shows her direction when it comes to her music hoping she has an impact on her audience. Another song that stood out to me was the second to last record titled “Momentum”. With the recurring lyric “I’m glad it left a mark,” the song truly showed what it means to learn from scars and turn them into something worth celebrating. 

Some of the records on the album seemed to be “filler” songs, which to me are songs that are skip worthy. Songs like “Number One Fan” and “Hands Off”  have a funky, upbeat energy to it, but they are not my specific style. One big factor that turned me away from a few of the records was the heavy use of autotune. I’m sure that they were stylistic choices in production, but Gavin has a very unique voice that doesn’t need heavy autotune. The amount of auto tune vocal adjustment on the song “It’s Gonna Be Okay, Baby”. It reminded me of the Billie Eilish song “WHEN I WAS OLDER,” from the original motion picture ROMA, where her voice was altered to mimic the sound of being underwater used to convey some deeper meaning. The song, in my opinion, didn’t have much of a deeper meaning to me that required it to be autotuned.

The album overall I thought it was very well crafted and thought out. The lyrics have a deeper meaning with many themes that can relate to those who choose to listen. Despite these points, I still believe that their debut album “About U” compared better to the newly released album “Saves the World”. The vibe overall evoked more emotion and connected with me more personally. The two albums are two complete opposite eras in the trio’s lives, and it’s sure to cause different emotions from their listeners.