Jeremy Williams-Chalmers, Arts Correspondent

Album Review: Sigrid - How To Let Go

How to Let Go Sigrid
It Gets Dark; Burning Bridges; Risk Of Getting Hurt;
Thank Me Later; Mirror; Last To Know; Dancer; A Driver Saved My Night; Mistake Like You; Grow; High Note

‎Island Records: B09TX5YLFZ


Back in 2018 the pressure was mounting for Norway's Sigrid. Having been met with a flurry of hype for her initial singles and EPs, she suddenly found herself named the winner of BBC Music Sound of 2018 and the winner of Newcomer of the Year at the Spellemannprisen. All this acclaim before a debut album had even been released meant the bar was set high for her debut, Sucker Punch, which landed a year later. While there were critics who stated she lacked the key single, the praise for the album was pretty much unanimously positive and it peaked at #4 on the UK album charts.

The Covid hit and Sigrid was allowed a much needed break from the pressure to really deliver. Then last year she suddenly reappeared with the killer single Mirror, a track that immediately responded to any of the criticism she had received for Sucker Punch. While distinctively Sigird, Mirror packed the pop punch that radio craved and it was very apparent that Sigrid was back and about to be bigger than ever before.

As more singles from her sophomore album appeared - Burning Bridges, It Gets Dark and the most recent, the Bring Me The Horizon collab. Bad Life - it became even more evident that Sigrid is an artist who is destined for stadium success, but on her own terms. While the sound is cohesive, each song is its own distinctive moment that shines in its own right.

So how do all these moments gel together into an album? Seemingly effortlessly. Sigrid's sophomore album, How To Let Go, is easily one of the finest all-out pop moments of the last decade. It has bombast of Miley, the intricacy of Robyn, the pop sensitivity of Lady Gaga and yet it feels nothing like any of their material. This is Sigrid on her own terms, in her own words and with a new-level of confidence.

Pure pop brilliance.