The music that I listen to could surprise some people, especially those who see me as a positive person.
But it didn’t start that way. In 2024, I listened to “DARKSIDE” by singer/songwriter duo Neoni (pronounced “nee-on-ee”). I was curious about it because the name is similar to another song, “Darkside” by Alan Walker. A year later, I decided to listen to Neoni’s 2022 hit “Royalty” after watching a YouTube POV short and liking it better than “DARKSIDE.”
I discovered after looking at Neoni’s other songs that the names seemed kind of dark. However, after listening to more of their songs through YouTube Shorts, I thought they sounded good. In a song, it is mostly the beat and melody that stands out to me rather than the lyrics or title.
On May 8, Neoni, consisting of sisters Caitlin Powell and Sidney Powell, released their second full-length studio album, How to Kill a Fairytale. The album explores the loss of innocence after discovering the reality of a “perfect” life.
Prior to the album’s release, seven out of its 15 songs were released as singles. I became obsessed with two of them — “Autopsy” and “Tombstone” — due to their catchy melodies and lyrics about adrenaline and lasting love.
The album opens with “Tale As Old As,” a song which starts out sounding like something out of The Wizard of Oz until a beat drops and the first verse is sung. I thought the first verse had rather dark and violent lyrics (with lines about waking up in a “warzone” with wounds after falling off “cloud nine”), but I like how it explores the reality that the world is not perfect.
Something I enjoy about the album is it explores emotions that Neoni has not previously written about. “Roses” delves into choosing to ignore red flags in a toxic relationship, shown through lyrics like “You see flags, I see roses / I fall in too fast, it feels like floating / And I didn’t ask, in case you didn’t notice”; “Tombstone” is about loving someone for the rest of one’s life, shown through lyrics like “’Cause if it’s not this life, then just maybe / In the next one, we will finally say it / I’ll love you ’til we’re bones”; and “SOS” explores the emotions of loving someone while not wanting to, shown through lyrics like “Every time that I see you, it’s cardiac arrest / Oh, no, maybe I’m possessed.”
The first time I listened to the album, I liked the melody of specific songs like “Tale As Old As,” “Good Grief,” “Metamorphosis,” “The Tower” and “Midnight.”
“Good Grief” at first reminded me a little bit of “Cradles” by Sub Urban but with more guitar. “Metamorphosis” features a sudden scream of “Oh, my god!” in the intro which slightly scared me, but I still like the song’s defiant tone. “The Tower” has a fantasy-style sound with a violin and EDM-sounding drum during the chorus. “Midnight” contains the lyrics “When the clock strikes midnight / Ooh, what will be left of my life?” which give the song a melancholy tone, but I enjoyed the different sound in comparison to Neoni’s other songs.
I surprisingly really enjoyed How to Kill a Fairytale. Despite the album name and song titles being dark, I enjoy its themes of defiance and its music that go beyond themes of Neoni’s previous songs. I look forward to listening to the duo’s next releases.
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