Maisie Peters - The Good Witch (2023) Hi Res

Masie Peters, a singer-songwriter who spent time busking in Brighton, U.K., has impressive chops—she can play guitar, write melodies and lyrics, and yes, even sing. During 2022 Peters built her fanbase online, endured a painful romantic breakup (a.k.a. lots of fertile song material) and opened a tour for Ed Sheeran. Now signed to his record label, Peter's sophomore album is a collaboration that benefits from a solid phalanx of A-list pop producers like Oscar Görres (Taylor Swift, Troye Sivan), Two Inch Punch (Sam Smith, Jessie Ware), Matias Tellez (girl in red), Brad Ellis (Jorja Smith, Little Mix), Joe Rubel (Ed Sheeran, Tom Grennan) and Elvira Anderfjärd (Tove Lo, Katy Perry). The results, loud and in your face throughout, are best heard in the knockout single, "You Lost the Breakup."

There are plenty of smart, shiny, insanely catchy mixes, some with ABBA-like leanings, that should vault Peters, a huge Taylor Swift fan, onto that same rarified path. While the hurts of romance is her subject, Peters is no victim, dishing out in equal measure to what she's had to take, ending "You Lost The Breakup," with a proposition from her ex: "Wow, hey, it's been forever, do you wanna get drink, like, together?/ I say 'I'm kinda busy but, like, stay in touch'/ I think, 'Oh shit, I won the breakup.'"

Most of these songs, which probably started out as simple acoustic guitar numbers, have been built into extra-large productions, highly produced fragments that often end abruptly. The thumping dance track "Coming of Age," is one place where you notice that Peters is a significantly better lyricist than most pop stars, whipping through lines like "I'm quarrying new ground and I'm burning all your CDs/ Baby I am the Iliad, of course you couldn't read me/ So I'll leave you behind but that don't mean it's easy." Swinging between femme fatale in black leather and platform boots and big-eyed cutesiness, both spiked with the emotions surrounding two of her favorite terms ("snakebite" and "Armageddon"), Peters makes her intentions clear on "Coming of Age": "I know I made you the big star/ I let you butcher my big heart/ But it's my song and my stage/ And it's my coming of age."