Shura – I Got Too Sad For My Friends
Six years after the release of her critically acclaimed album Forevher, Shura takes us on a journey of loneliness and depression with her latest album I Got Too Sad For My Friends. Her debut album Nothing’s Real is known for its catchy, electro-pop songs reminiscent of Madonna tracks from the 80s; the aforementioned Forevher thematically is a soundtrack to the life of a woman who found happiness and love, sonically is a continuation of her debut infused with Funk, RnB and Soul; her latest record is similar to her earlier work with elements of electro-pop but treads new terrain with alt-pop influences.
The album opener Tokyo, a song about her insecurities regarding love, loneliness, and self-consciousness over her body, starts with an orchestra of strings, piano, percussion and wind instruments, which crescendos into her beautiful vocals and also features fantastic baroque-pop/alt-pop style production and amazing vocal layering. The fantastic vocal performance continues throughout the album, with Leonard Street displaying her melismas and the lead single Recognise demonstrating her vibrato and a vocal tone similar to Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins.
The album’s standout is her third single World’s Worst Girlfriend, a sad yet danceable 80s synth-pop inspired song with a modern twist. The vocals are scintillating, Luke Smith’s production is incredible, the lyrics are deep and relatable, resulting in a timeless song that could have featured on a retro Madonna record or Billie Eilish’s recent album. Richardson features lovely synthesisers and layering that add texture to the track. The song America is forgettable, and I Wanna Be Loved By You is a great, soulful ballad, unfortunately ruined by poor vocal mixing, making some of her singing unintelligible. However, she returns to and maintains form from Ringpull, featuring a Motown-style bassline and a soulful vocal performance, till the album closer Bad Kid, a song with nice folky, acoustic riffs and vocal layering.
Despite the few hiccups, the album is a phenomenal insight into Shura’s life between the release of her last and latest record: a story of anguish, losing one’s identity, depression, paranoia, loneliness, and thoughts about her own mortality. I Got Too Sad For My Friends is a fantastic record on par with, and arguably even better than, its predecessors, with outstanding songwriting, production, and vocal performances for the most part, showcasing her versatility by taking influences from a variety of genres.
Glory Matondo
Image: Sophie Williams
I Got Too Sad For My Friends is released on 30th May 2025. For further information or to order the album, visit Shura’s website here.
Watch the video for the single World’s Worst Girlfriend here:
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