Perfect Picture by Hannah Diamond

Review written by windowsxrhi

Perfect Picture, Hannah Diamond’s sophomore album, traverses a fine line between simulation and reality as she delves into identity, the ups-and-downs of relationships, self-acceptance, and the human experience in a bubblegum pink-tinted, computer screen-esque world. “No FX” was the first song I heard when I stumbled upon the English electro-pop artist on Bandcamp and I immediately was hooked with the heartfelt, vulnerable lyrics that contrasted the distorted vocals that gives an air of “AI meets world.” Diamond gives the impression within her lyricism that she’s within the hit game, The Sims, where she goes through the virtual seas of friendship, love, and the confusing topic that is sense of self. Later in the record, she makes peace with life for what it is and realizes how lucky we all are to be alive.

As I further researched the album and Hannah Diamond herself, I learned that she was an indirect successor to the pop artist Kesha, the one who was originally supposed to sing “Want You To Know,” which was originally titled “Do You Wanna Know.” You can still listen to the original demo on YouTube, but Diamond was able to upcycle the track into an earnest letter that invites the listener with open arms to truly get to know her with no preconceived notions. It reminds me of the idea of how when we don’t see someone for a long time, we’re often faced with the hard pill to swallow that people change, whether for better or for worse. Diamond wants us to swallow it not because she tells us to, but only if we truly want to see the change.

Though almost all the vocals on these tracks are somewhat tampered with for a virtual reality effect, there’s songs like Poster Girl, Want You To Know, and Flashback where they are layered with lower and higher pitches of her voice to create depth amidst her hyper-feminine timbre. Other songs like Impossible play with glitch effects to push the meaning of the lyrics, for example, “I’ve met people before / They’re lower resolution and blurred” where Diamond explains to the love interest of the song that they’re a person that brings them clarity through the pixelated madness, albeit the song being about unrequited love.

The juxtaposition between the vulnerable and very real human experiences portrayed in the lyrics and the electric, poppy synths matched with the computer-like vocals makes for an interesting combo as we as a people in 2024 are dealing with further integration of AI in our society. The very real feelings of derealization and anxiety that comes from a technology-heavy world is one that’s daunting, but feels seen in this record as it is painted with scenes that are relatable to humankind using technological motifs such as “windows and screens” from “No FX,” as it describes the superficiality of what we see online, and wanting to “delete memories” as heard in “Staring At The Ceiling.” I feel as though these songs will definitely fit into the hyper-specific playlists of many Gen-Zers and Millennials that are into music with that pop of nostalgia. We all grew up in the beginnings of the iGeneration, and so we can visualize a lot of the aesthetics described in this digitalistic femscape.

The thematics tend to jump between optimism and pessimism, which is done in a well-rounded way as we feel the melancholy of reveling in a past relationship in “Flashback,” and the butterfly-inducing highs of a blossoming relationship in “No FX.” As Diamond navigates her sense of self and learning to love another, you get the penultimate track “Divisible By Two,” which I interpret as a situation in which she feels strongly for the love interest, but she’s losing herself in trying to keep up with the other person as “their time moves like the weather” where she previously describes it as slow, and then fast. This specific theme can also be heard in the previous song, “Twisted,” with the lyrics, “Every time you leave me / Forget how to be me without you.”

The album ends on a high note with “Unbreakable,” a comparatively slower and introspective track as she references her own stage alias with the lyrics, “My heart, a diamond, unbreakable / Can’t be divided, unbreakable,” in which she details independence and new beginnings as a means to wrap up the effervescent world that is Perfect Picture.