Some records aren’t meant to be listened to—they’re meant to be endured. You Heartbreaker, You, Jehnny Beth’s second solo album, is one of them. It doesn’t invite you in; it throws you against the wall. It doesn’t ask for empathy—it demands presence.
Known for her searing presence with Savages and her fierce artistic commitment, Beth pushes further into emotional extremes. This isn’t a breakup album. It’s about unraveling: of language, of the body, of identity. She’s not romanticizing pain—she’s dissecting it.
Broken Rib opens the album with guttural guitars and fractured vocals, and from there, No Good For People and Obsession spiral into dissonant chaos. Repetition becomes a tool of torment. There’s no verse-chorus safety here—only instinct and pressure.
Out of My Reach and I Still Believe provide space to breathe, though the tension never leaves. The quiet is unsettling, the vulnerability sharp. There’s no resolution, just different shades of exposure.
Stop Me Now and High Resolution Sadness reignite the album’s urgency. The latter stands as its emotional thesis: sadness not as collapse, but as absolute clarity. This is Beth at her most articulate and most unforgiving.
Final track I See Your Pain doesn’t offer closure. Instead, it hovers. Acknowledgement without comfort. As if Beth were whispering: I see you—and I’m not here to fix you.
You Heartbreaker, You is confrontational, cerebral, and completely honest. It won’t make you feel better—but it will make you feel. And that’s precisely the point.
