Illuminati Hotties leader Sarah Tudzin has a lot on her plate. Along with fusing her pop tendencies with vulnerable songwriting on the band’s albums, she works outside of the project as a producer and engineer. Her experience in the studio is possibly what led to the pop-punk explosiveness of Power, Illuminati Hotties’ latest outing. Coming off of the experimentation of Let Me Do One More, these 12 songs have Tudzin diverting to a more conventional approach to her self-coined “tender punk” sound. Rather than squeezing all the risks into the production work, Tudzin challenges herself in a new way. Power is a confessional album that allows the listener to step into Tudzin’s shoes for an outing brimming with infectious pop and deeply personal lyrics.
On the surface, Tudzin crafted a stunning pop record. The production on Power makes it seem like a bright pop-punk album borrowed from the genre’s rich history, but the record’s nuances separate these songs from their peers. Getting lost in the production work here is easy, as it can sometimes get repetitive. The sugary punk employed in the instrumentation is not going to be the element that pushes Power onto daily playlists, then again, Tudzin doesn’t have much to prove on the production front. Songs she has produced have achieved the highest acclaim the industry has to offer, from Grammy’s to number-one records. Most music fans have heard Tudzin’s work, whether they realize it or not. Rather than continually dig deeper into her risky yet rewarding production work, Tudzin uses Power as a platform to display her talents as a songwriter.
The lyrics of Power inch the listener into Tudzin’s world, allowing us to understand the artist behind the music better. Sentimental moments like “Rot” and “You’re Not Who You Were” feel like listening to a private conversation. It is in these gentle moments that the magic of the album is revealed. Tudzin held nothing back on the songwriting end as she fearlessly navigated complex emotions and squeezed them into honed pop structures. Miraculously, the constrictions of tight pop didn’t restrict Tudzin from finding a way to make the blunt approach her own. The soaring vocals accent the colorful pop arrangements beautifully, but the words she delivers with those melodies pull the listener in.
This new era of the Illuminati Hotties is lined with familiar pop with brutally honest songwriting. Tudzin’s latest outing plays it safe with busy arrangements that playfully toe the line between sun-drenched punk and nostalgic pop while the artist uses easily digestible instrumentation to explore inexplicable emotions. Rather than get caught up in the lack of left-field punk, the listener can get lost in Tudzin’s words. Power introduces us to a new side of Illuminati Hotties that takes the pressure of the guitars and drums and places the weight of the album on its words, creating an enticing juxtaposition that may take a few listens to understand fully. Still, once it clicks, you’ll appreciate that Tudzin stumbled upon hit records while expressing intense emotions.
