Sometimes, you just cannot force a square peg into a round hole. This could have been a bedroom pop album in the way of something like Clairo’s debut album. That would have allowed her to deliver something short and focused and something that would stay more tightly defined within the sound that she got traction with. Heaven knows clearly has larger pop ambitions and while that might very well be in her future, the result right now is an album with plenty of strong moments, but not enough interesting music to carry the full project.
This comes up particularly strongly in the songs with features. You can see how these were designed for crossover appeal. However, the Central Cee verse just drags down a song with clever moments, but one that was already struggling to hold up its own weight. Similarly, I felt that the Ice Spice feature, while a cultural moment for both of them, is not one of her best.
PinkPantheress has moments, especially in songs like “Feelings”, with very compelling sounds and she’s still way too exciting to write off, but this album isn’t the breakout she wanted it to be.
Top Five Records 
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