Words by Eleanor Weber | Photographer: Ashley Osborn
Amelia Moore isn’t over it, but she’s figured out how to make art out of the wreckage and share it with us in the process. Her latest album, he’s still just not that into you!, builds off the EP she dropped last summer, he’s just not that into you!, and serves as the sequel she always envisioned. From the intro track, Moore makes it clear that this project isn’t about moving on quietly, but rather narrating every obsessive, gritty, and real moment that goes into love and heartbreak, all coated in a brutal, glittery honesty.
“I don’t know how to write music without being vulnerable,” Moore shared in a press conference leading up to the album release. This is reflected in the raw confessional of this record. It’s a reality check for anyone freshly dumped, still scrolling their ex’s Instagram, and trying to convince themselves the guy who forgot their name was ever worth it.
This is perfectly detailed in “emily,” a lyrically satirical song where Moore recounts being misnamed by a guy who once called her his (hint: it’s Amelia, not Emily). The line lands because it’s not only absurd, but uncomfortably familiar. It’s a reality check for anyone who’s ever mistaken the bare minimum for affection.
Across the record, Moore threads rage and humor through faded, rose-tinted lenses. “Underwater” stuck with me the most. The track is delivered with a softness that makes its threats feel even sharper. “Next time I hold a man down, it’ll be underwater,” she sings sweetly, as a faint phone call flickers in and out in the background, giving the track the intimacy of a voice memo sent mid-vent to a best friend.
In a deviation from the overall bitter-tasting tracklist, “spelling bee,” featuring Teezo Touchdown, is a flirtatious, lust-soaked daydream. Moore worked on the track with her songwriting idol Julia Michaels, and the giddy energy is contagious. “It’s about being horny as hell, y’all,” she jokingly explained, and that visceral transparency is what makes it brilliant.
Moore has a skill in her songwriting of taking feelings that could be humiliating and reframing them as powerful aspects of being human. “That’s all they really want” sounds reminiscent of Cyndi Lauper’s classic, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, but flips it into a commentary on male flakiness. “Boys just want to have fun,” she sighs, but there’s no mistaking the disappointment behind it: it’s melancholy masquerading as pop.
Visually, the album’s teasers mirror its emotional intensity. Moore extended her signature bright orange hair all the way to the floor, which provided a striking image that doubles as a symbol of heartbreak’s long trail, and the quiet power in finally letting it drag behind you.
He’s still just not that into you! is a cathartic sendoff to every man who refused to meet you where you were, and Moore perfectly reminds listeners that heartbreak doesn’t have to be quiet, especially with hot girl summer just around the corner.