Produced on Ed Sheeran’s label Gingerbread Man Records, Maisie Peters’ You Signed Up For This is all-embracing of current pop influences, overflowing with familiarity. With immediate unintentional links to Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Driving License’ on the first track, Peters promises to follow swiftly in Rodrigo’s eminent footsteps. This link follows through into ‘Outdoor Pool’, a song that could be compared to the likes of Halsey, Lorde or HAIM: a laidback summery deep-feeler. In general, if you want to feel that youthful nostalgia of a moment not quite passed, this album delivers.
A fresh-fraced personality emerges from between the lines of ‘Boy’. With heavy overtones of Ed Sheeran’s ‘New Man’ – both musically and contextually – we see a new take on artistic bitterness. It feels as though Peters’ and Sheeran’s songs could be put in the same lyrical story, either as a sequence or as two different sides to the same story. Yet, the harmonies, humming and non-lexical vocals draw you in just as much, making this a song with a potential to whirl around on repeat in your head. It’s catchy and explosive, quite tongue in cheek.
Originally captivated by the first half of the album, ‘Brooklyn’ caught me by surprise. Guided by an innocent-sounding voice, the way Peters sings about her twin sister is wholesome and charismatic. It’s almost hard to not run away with the images she conjures. The synthetic beats and bassy piano notes make you feel like you are there in the clubs with them, while the sparseness of the verses helps to build up and tie together the song’s various layers.
Every track on this album has its moment in time, its place in life and its meaning in itself. When I went to the Neighbourhood Weekender Festival in 2019, my friend told me I would like Maisie Peters’ music. At the time, I’d absently agreed and walked past the tent she was playing in. You Signed Up For This proved to me that Maisie Peters has the ability to wake up the carefree youth we all have inside of us.
