By Ashley Ragone
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Following an indefinite hiatus announced last year from supergroup Boygenius, Lucy Dacus is back with her fourth solo studio album, “Forever is a Feeling.”
In a press release from Universal Music, Dacus commented on her album’s bold title. “You can’t actually capture forever…But I think we feel forever in moments. I don’t know how much time I’ve spent in forever, but I know I’ve visited.” The 13-track record is beautifully introspective, combining melancholic guitar with carefully crafted lyricism, no single moment coming across as filler.
The first track, “Calliope Prelude,” presents an instrumental of mournful strings and harp. Dacus first teased the prelude and the album’s arrival on Nov. 20 through TikTok, with footage of an art gallery. The album heavily relies on the motif of art; the cover is an oil painting of Dacus, additionally touring the unreleased music through various museums and churches this past February.
As described by Dacus to NPR, “I was just thinking about how most art through time has been motivated by love, so it’s not like it’s new material. So while I was recording, I was just thinking about antiquity, both sonically and visually.”
“Ankles,” the first single off the album, sees Dacus exploring a forbidden romance, the adrenaline rush of misbehaving. She muses on the shared intimacy she wishes to experience, both physical touch and genuine emotional connection, through “crossword[s] in the mornings.” The accompanying music video follows Dacus, a classical painting come to life, as she is followed by her protective museum guard.
“Modigliani” references the Italian artist of the same name, notable for his style of long, almond-shaped faces in paintings. The song is also a love letter to her bandmate and close friend, indie singer Phoebe Bridgers. Dacus reminisces on the time differences they would experience while on solo album tours, where Bridgers would make her “homesick for places [she had] never been before,” and how Dacus will never find her famous or intimidating as she proudly stands by her as a friend.
We see a change in tone through “Talk,” with a darker melody and the disintegration of love. Dacus and her partner have run out of conversation, watching the sunset while also witnessing the end of their relationship. Although Dacus wants to go back, she knows she must talk in past tense when she wonders, “Why can’t we talk anymore?”
A bittersweet sentiment is maintained through track seven, “For Keeps.” As she thinks about all the admirable traits of her partner and the meaningful moments of their time together, she also grieves for the future. She recognizes that they exist in a state of limbo, not working toward a place of permanence. As she worships even the smallest details, she also knows they will not always stick around.
The title track, “Forever is a Feeling,” is both optimistic and sorrowful, a dichotomy of hell and bliss created from the illusive nature of permanence. Despite the conflicting nature of the lyrics, the song ends with upbeat piano and a bridge sung by Dacus alongside her Boygenius bandmates.
In an interview with Variety, Dacus shared the process of coming to terms with the unpredictability of life. “It takes mental practice to just stay at peace with the idea that, yeah, everything’s gonna come to pass — and that doesn’t mean close off your heart because it’ll be painful when you lose everything. It’s worth the experience of love to have loss at the end of it.”
“Come Out” is accompanied by a sweeping harp, warm and longing. Dacus creates a juxtaposition between bigots screaming on the street and her desire to scream about her love and appreciation for her unnamed partner. As she tours and explores new places, she finds little things that remind her of her partner, and creates excitement for what her future may hold. The listening experience is especially sweetened when reminiscing on all the cherished moments and people in my own life.
In a celebration of uncertainty mixed with hope, Dacus presents “Best Guess” as an acceptance of what is to come. Despite not being able to control what the future holds, Dacus believes her partner to be her “best bet” if she were a “gambling man.” This song notably marks the first release of Dacus’ to use explicit female pronouns, which she honors with a music video full of masc-presenting friends and fellow singers.
The only feature on the album is found in “Bullseye” with Hozier, continuing a pattern seen throughout the album of literary references; Dacus herself frequently shares her love of reading and book recommendations. The song marks an end to young love, the codependency and overwhelming state of feeling that is associated with such immaturity. In a discussion with People Magazine, she found that the song “reads as the ideal breakup, where you can remember all the reasons that you got together, and it’s not like they don’t apply…but it’s just not right anymore.”
In one of her most revealing and honest songs, Dacus dedicated “Most Wanted Man” to her girlfriend Julien Baker. She only recently confirmed her relationship with her fellow Boygenius member in the days leading up to the album’s release, discussing how this album was extremely intimate and raw. “Most Wanted Man” documents the evolution of her relationship, growing besides one another with “time to write the book” about Baker. Dacus asks to be given the chance to spend forever learning and leaning on her partner, offering the same in return with backup vocals from Baker herself. It’s upbeat, cheeky and an especially fun song for Boygenius fans who have watched the pair grow close in the past years.
“Forever is a Feeling” as an album explores the various ways love helps us grow, tears us down and makes us feel everything in between. Dacus’ profound lyrics and thoughtful meditations offer a catalog of music that can only be described as enlightened. While extremely specific and personal, the songs are universal and easily understood through a diverse range of experiences. We all fall in love, we are all burdened by time and we all feel anxiety at what the future may hold; Dacus knows this well.
The “Forever is a Feeling” tour begins April 16.
