It has been assembled through some of the worst moments of my life, burnout, grief, but also hope. I hope it can make you feel a little less alone.
SOPHOMORE SLUMP CALLITHUMP is, without question, a wonderful successor to Stomach book's debut, self-titled album. This album's subjects of grief in all aspects expands greatly on the subjects of her original album, as well as expanding on her experience as a member of the transgender community, subject and observant of its hardships. Her improvement in all aspects of her song-making is extremely evident, and while her earlier songs will always be classics in my heart, still being incredible works of art, the songs of SOPHOMORE SLUMP CALLITHUMP have quickly earned their place as a part of her discography and instant respect and love.
While I have a massive amount of love for the more grating songs like Casket Kids and Playing Pretend, Are You Waiting? is simply too good of an album introduction to be ignored. Its lyricism and vocals throw you into the album in a beautifully discordant nature, showing you exactly what you're going to get and almost asking for your arrival. Are You Waiting is a beautiful display of SOPHOMORE SLUMP CALLITHUMP's themes, instrumentals and lyrics, and I am very glad it ended up being the first song listeners will hear on the album.
It is with a heavy heart that I put this song in this section of the review simply for its context in the album and in its creation. For those who do not know, its title and creation were made after her mother passed at this exact time, in order to express and vent the grief inherent from her passing. It is a very rough and emotional song due to this, and was almost cut from the album. On her Twitter page, Vivian had this to say about it: “The reason it’s a little rougher and noisier than some other songs on the album is that I wrote and recorded it on that day, and it has been almost unchanged until release/(aside from a little bit of mixing and mastering) I thought about cutting it because it’s very personal and vulnerable for me, but I decided that the album wouldn’t have been complete without it.” I hate to say it, but the extreme harshness is not for me, and so I place it here - not to criticize it, but to explain my thoughts and its necessity of being included on the album to fully complete it to those who do not know this.