Dirt Femme – Tove Lo

Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo has released her fifth studio album, Dirt Femme, combining her classic grunge-pop sound with intense synth and disco elements. The album is impressively genre spanning and brings a new level of sound and creativity to her discography.

Tove Lo does a wonderful job explaining the basis of the album in the introduction to her “Enhanced” album on Spotify. She says, “Did you know that the female scorpions eat the male scorpions after they mate? That is the essence of this album. Enjoy!” This really is a perfect encapsulation of the album. It conveys the power and intensity of the music and the messages of feminism and love, as well as the darker tones in the music.

With songs like “Grapefruit” and “Pineapple Slice”, the disco and synthpop nature of Lo’s music is highlighted in an excellent way. While the tones remain relatively consistent throughout the album, the grunge Lo discusses can be seen on tracks like “Cute and Cruel”, “Suburbia”, or “I’m To Blame”. Especially on these songs, the lyrics reflect the deeper meanings and themes of this album. They show the struggles of love on “I’m to Blame” and “No One Dies From Love”, and on “Suburbia” she discusses how giving in to love could take away the future she wants.

As a whole though, the album feels more like an EP or mixtape that does not follow a story or consistent arc. While deep and complex musically for most tracks, some songs like “2 Die 4” and “Kick In The Head” can feel organic and made to top the charts instead of explore the complexities of the album.

Dirt Femme is a very solid album throughout, that experiments with different genres and tones. It is fun and creative consistently, and feels new and exciting with every listen. Some of my favorite tracks include “Suburbia”, “Grapefruit”, and “I’m To Blame”. Overall I would give this album and 8/10.