Kacy Hill Comes Into Her Sound On This Dazzling Pop Album

A Review of Kacy Hill’s Album, Simple, Sweet, and Smiling

Background

Music has long been a part of Kacy Hill’s life. Hill had been growing her musical acumen for years as a high school oboe, saxophonist, and choir singer. After taking on a modeling gig with American Apparel, the singer went to Los Angeles. Once Director-photographer Stephen Garnet connected Hill with Jaylien Wesley, the rest of her career quickly progressed to widespread recognition.

She did well online with songs like “Experience” and “Beautiful” in the mid-2010s. Once Kanye West caught wind of the former, he signed the budding artist/model to GOOD Music. In interviews over the years, Hill has talked about how modeling was never her passion and was just something she did to try, so this career bump was hugely impactful for her. Hill’s spacious, poignant vocals added an ear-grabbing quality to her song’s electronic soul beats.

The emotional musings on Hill’s following few albums were focused on finding true love, navigating complex relationships, and discovering home. While her debut was on GOOD Music, her sophomore project was released independently. Hill’s career had primarily been focused on finding a happy medium between creative control and musical expression. It’s been some time since she was signed to GOOD Music as a backup dancer for the Yeezus Tour. Since then, Hill’s music has felt more focused and channeled towards her vision.

A little over a year after Is It Okay If We Talk About Me, the alternative pop singer made an even more self-asserted statement with the deeply grounded and transparent project, Sweet, Simple, and Smiling.

Impassioned Worries And Stress

While Hill searched for the simple, sweet, and smiling life on her album, she undressed many obstacles along the way. Her issues involved a partner who was distant due to stress (I Couldn’t Wait) and frustrations with her productivity (Caterpillars). From the lyrics of these songs, it sounded like moseying around her city was one way Hill could unpack her complicated personal issues.

We hear these grievances peal away on the contemplative and dreamy tune, “Walking At Midnight”. Hill brings us closer to the problems troubling her with a magical upper register. The solutions to her problems took work and reengineering her priorities and focus, but with songs like “Walking At Midnight”, the apparent barriers to her happiness were identified.

Sweet, Modern Synth Pop

It is clear from the beginning of this album that the 1980s synth-pop wave influenced it. Nevertheless, in Hill’s discography, this album represents more distinct production choices that complement her sound and improve the overall productivity of her music. Hearing Hill sing angelically over the light pianos on “Caterpillars” and “Mochi’s Interlude” is one of the most prized musical gifts you’ll receive this year. She sounds divine, and her lyrics pop more than ever.

Too often in Hill’s career, her music sounded like it was made in a studio without her and brought to her later to sound like a younger Florence Welch or a pompous version of Ariana Grande. Thankfully, with these batches of songs, she’s sticking her foot down on the sound she wants and the voice that authentically comes out of her experiences.

Room For Improvement

This album is excellent. However, two elements of this album prevent it from being at the upper echelon of the synth-pop realm. Firstly, her words get muddled in the upper register of her voice. Therefore, while she sounds incredibly lovely and pristine, sometimes her enunciations could be more precise. We hear this in songs like “I Couldn’t Wait” and “Another You”.

It would be okay if her words faded away on purpose, but in these cases, she just mispronounced them. In this project, she has proven how well she can clarify her words. Take “Mochi’s Interlude” and “So Loud” for example — Every word is as clear as day, and the emotion behind them is felt immediately. This point leads me to my following critique.

Hill has one of the most impressive vocals in her class. It’s sharp, soothing, and light, yet it can be as strong as a piercing wind. The problem that comes up on this album is the emotion. I have the same critique of opera singers. Sometimes, singers with such a high level of technical skills lose the emotional connection to the music.

The best example of this is “Easy Going”, where the song, on its surface, feels uplifting and positive. However, upon review of the lyrics, the song is disastrously depressing and filled with anxiety. While the album's overall tone is mellow and primed with apprehensions, some vocal hiccups take the listener out of the overall album experience.

Seeing Past The Anguish

Simple, Sweet, and Smiling is occupied with Hill’s frustration with time management and poor relationships. Still, Hill sees the other side through sheer optimism and hope. We hear this the most clearly on the album’s closer, “Another You,” as she sings, “Know it’ll be better, bout time that I felt it, I know it sounds like such a lie, believe me, this time.” Hill’s vocals and musical presence on this album glow with the essence of a classically trained musician on synthesized pop tunes.

As her songwriting has become more authentic, her music carries raw emotions deep into the high-brow-sounding pop world. She’s shown that a simple, sweet, and smiling life is possible, but the road there could be harsh and full of obstacles.

Album: Simple, Sweet, and Smiling

Artist: Kacy Hill

Genre: Indie Pop, Synth Pop

Album drop date: 10/15/2021

Artist’s third studio album

11 songs, 33 minutes

Lyrical content: 9

Theme: 7

Production quality: 7

Song development: 7

The context in genre: 6

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