Ungodly | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
EP by | ||||
Released | March 16, 2018 | |||
Genre | Indie pop | |||
Length | 16:46 | |||
Label | Independent | |||
Producer | The Orphanage (Trevor Brown, Zaire Koalo) | |||
Baum chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Ungodly | ||||
|
Ungodly is the debut EP by American alternative pop artist Baum, her sole full-length recording before reinventing herself as Blondshell. It was released on March 16, 2018.
Originally from New York City, Sabrina Teitelbaum had written and performed music from a young age, [1] [2] and had posted songs to SoundCloud since 2014, while still in high school. [3] [4] She moved to Los Angeles to attend USC Thornton School of Music, but dropped out after two years to focus on a music career. [5] [6] [7] [8] Teitelbaum then began as BAUM in 2017, debuting with the single "First". [9] The EP, initially announced under the name First, [10] was produced by Oak Felder proteges The Orphanage (Trevor Brown and Zaire Koalo), who had previously worked on Demi Lovato's "Sorry Not Sorry". [1]
The music of BAUM was identified as alternative pop, [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] indie pop, [9] dark pop, [16] [1] [17] [14] electropop, [18] [2] [7] synth-pop, [9] [8] chill pop, [6] and soul-pop, [5] [19] a sound Teitelbaum labelled "natural grunge". [20] The Ungodly EP has a dance-pop sound [21] that evokes Haim, [22] [20] [21] [23] Muna, [20] [17] [21] Carly Rae Jepsen, [22] [17] Lady Gaga, Lorde, [24] and Tei Shi. [21] Lead single "Hot Water" was described as "poppy and soulful", [20] "an '80s revival akin to early Haim and more recent Carly Rae Jepsen", [22] and "flitting between Robyn-esque, fist-pumping pop to a more floaty bop reminiscent of The 1975." [10] "Effortless" was said by Galore to have "all the Haim vibes you can handle" with vocal similarities to Lana Del Rey and Adele. [23] Elsewhere, "This Body" utilizes finger snaps and elements of electropop and tropical house, [1] [18] "Dream Girl is an R&B song, [25] while the title track was described by Clash as "divine of chorus and cutting of lyric". [26]
Lyrically, the EP tackles themes of first love, heartbreak, coming of age, sexuality, mental health, body positivity, female empowerment, and self-love. [24] [12] [14] [9] Opener and lead single "Hot Water" was written about Teitelbaum's first encounters with women after coming out as bisexual and her lack of experience at the time. [2] [22] [14] "Effortless", inspired by a friend's heartbreak, imagines taking revenge on a cheating ex-partner; the song was initially conceived as a sad piano ballad but became more focused on anger and empowerment during the writing. [11] [17] [24] "This Body" is a self-love and body image anthem, written in response to a catcalling incident Teitelbaum experienced at USC, [1] [2] [14] [17] [24] [27] while "Dream Girl" is about adopting a false persona to for the benefit of a partner. [1] [24] "Ungodly", the title track, was a last-minute addition to the EP; [26] [24] Teitelbaum cited it as her favorite song on the project and a perfect summary of its themes, describing it as "about being a young person and doing crazy, reckless things to feel alive and to feel loved". [26] [1] [24]
Teitelbaum told Billboard that “The whole thing is about empowering yourself in coming-of-age situations where you wouldn’t think you have all the power, where it gets taken away from you...I want people in high school or early college to hear it and think, ‘I went through that,’ and that there can be a happy ending to these things.” [24] She would later say the project was "a lot of songs I wrote when I was 18 and 19" that were "about what I was going through in high school and being self-destructive." [14]
Ungodly's rollout began with the single release of "Hot Water" on August 17, 2017. The single was marked with a concert at Manhattan's Rockwood Music Hall the following day, [28] and a music video - directed by Parker Foster and Chris Alessandra in San Francisco's historic Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, and depicting a lesbian couple falling in love [29] [10] [1] - was released on September 29 via the magazine Ladygunn. [30] The second single, "Effortless", was premiered on November 17 by Wonderland. [11] A third single, "This Body", was released on February 9, 2018, premiered by Billboard [1] and Nylon , [27] and was used by Target for their "No Body Like Mine" campaign. [12] [13]
Teitelbaum self-released the EP on March 16, 2018. That same month, Teitelbaum performed at South by Southwest, her first festival appearance, [24] [2] and was featured on the festival's official 2018 playlist. [21] She was scheduled to perform in April at Boston's Middle East nightclub with singer Dagny, but cancelled due to a case of bronchitis. [25] She was also highlighted on Spotify's curated playlists "Out Now" and "Young & Free". [13]
Following inactivity due to personal turmoil, Teitelbaum resurfaced in May 2019, releasing the singles "Fuckboy" and "Bad Kid", and had begun work with producer Yves Rothman on a second Baum EP, to be titled Curve. [9] [13] [14] [31] However, Teitelbaum had grown unsatisfied with her pop direction as Baum and, with Rothman's encouragement, abandoned the EP in favor making alternative rock music under the name Blondshell. [5] [6] [7] Gaining more notoriety in this iteration, she reteamed with Rothman for her self-titled debut album, which was released in 2023 on Partisan Records and received critical acclaim.
All tracks are written by Sabrina Teitelbaum
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hot Water" | Teitelbaum, Rett Madison | 2:59 |
2. | "This Body" | 3:43 | |
3. | "Effortless" | 3:04 | |
4. | "Dream Girl" | 3:46 | |
5. | "Ungodly" | 3:12 | |
Total length: | 16:46 |
Kelly Brianne is an American singer, songwriter, television personality, and author. She rose to fame after winning the first season of American Idol in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA Records. Her debut single, "A Moment Like This", topped the US Billboard Hot 100, and became the country's best-selling single of 2002. It was included on her debut studio album, Thankful (2003), which entered the Billboard 200 at number one, and also yielded the top-10 single "Miss Independent". Trying to reinvent her image, Clarkson parted ways with Idol management and shifted to pop rock for her second studio album, Breakaway (2004). Supported by four US top-ten singles – the title track, "Since U Been Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", and "Because of You" – Breakaway sold over 12 million copies worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.
"Firework" is a song by American singer Katy Perry from her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010). Perry co-wrote the song with Ester Dean and the song's producers Stargate and Sandy Vee. It is a dance-pop self-empowerment anthem with inspirational lyrics, and Perry felt it was an important song for her on the record. Capitol Records released it as the album's third single on October 26, 2010.
Margaret Rose Durante is an American soul and country music singer. In 2009, Durante signed to Universal Republic and released a cover of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody". A year later, she left Universal Republic and signed to independent Emrose Records, an imprint that used the services of James Stroud's Stroudavarious Records. She charted two singles for Emrose and released her digital EP, Maybe Tonight. Maggie also recorded two songs that were featured in episodes of the Disney Channel's Shake It Up and Good Luck Charlie television series, and were included on the Shake It Up: Break It Down soundtrack album that was released on July 12, 2011. Durante changed her recording name to Maggie Rose in 2012 after signing with Scott Siman's RPM Management. When Siman expanded RPM to include a mainstream country label, he launched the album with her as the flagship artist with the first single being "I Ain't Your Mama". In 2017, Rose signed to Startruck Records, where she released her 2018 album Change the Whole Thing.
Haim is an American rock band, based in Los Angeles, composed of three sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim. In addition to their primary instruments, each is proficient in several others.
Goldie Boutilier, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, model and DJ.
Fifth Harmony, often shortened to 5H, is an American girl group based in Miami, composed of Ally Brooke, Normani, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui, and Camila Cabello until Cabello's departure from the group in December 2016. The group signed a joint record deal with Simon Cowell's label Syco Records and L.A. Reid's label Epic Records after forming and were the last contestant eliminated in the second season of the American singing competition series The X Factor in 2012.
Bleachers are an American rock band from New Jersey and the official stage name of songwriter and record producer Jack Antonoff. Bleachers' early music was heavily influenced by the late 1980s and early 1990s, plus the high school-based films of John Hughes while still using modern production techniques. Their debut single "I Wanna Get Better" was released in February 2014, followed by four studio albums: Strange Desire (2014), Gone Now (2017), Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night (2021), and Bleachers (2024).
"Love Myself" is the debut single by American actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld. It was released on August 7, 2015, through Republic Records and Universal Music Group, as the lead single from her debut extended play (EP), Haiz (2015). The song was written by Mattias Larsson, Robin Fredriksson, Oscar Holter, Julia Michaels, and Justin Tranter, with the production being handled by Holter, with Larsson and Fredriksson under their stage name Mattman & Robin.
Grace Sewell, known professionally as SayGrace, is an Australian singer and songwriter. She is best known for "You Don't Own Me", a cover version of the 1963 Lesley Gore song, produced by Quincy Jones, Parker Ighile and featuring G-Eazy. The song, a single from her debut album with Regime Music Societe and RCA Records, was a number-one hit in Australia.
Chloe x Halle are an American duo composed of sisters Chloe and Halle Bailey. At a young age, the sisters performed in minor acting roles before moving from their hometown of Mableton, Georgia to Los Angeles in 2012. The two began posting music covers to YouTube and were acknowledged by Beyoncé, who became their mentor and later signed them to her label, Parkwood Entertainment. They subsequently released the EP Sugar Symphony (2016) and the mixtape The Two of Us (2017).
Dopamine is the debut studio album by American singer Mila J. It was released on April 7, 2017, through Silent Partner Entertainment and November Reign Records. The album is entirely produced by iRich, who also happens to be featured as a vocalist on the track "I Do Love You." The name of the project is inspired by the book This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin.
"Melanin Magic", alternatively "Melanin Magic ", is a song by American rapper Remy Ma featuring American singer Chris Brown. It was written by the artists alongside Keirston Lewis, Ricky Kinchen, Stokley Williams, Atia "INK" Boggs, Jeffrey Allen, Lawrence Waddell, and producer Dallas Austin. The song was released via Reminisce Records on January 19, 2018. The song was nominated for the BET Her Award at the BET Awards 2018.
Alexandra Artourovna Yatchenko, known professionally as Sasha Alex Sloan, is an American singer-songwriter. Her debut album, Only Child, was released on October 16, 2020. It was met with critical acclaim by music critics, deeming it as a solid and outspoken debut album. Sloan's second studio album I Blame the World was released on May 13, 2022.
Grace Pitts, better known as Graace, is an Australian singer-songwriter from Sydney. She is best known for her vocals on Hayden James' platinum selling single "Numb". It was released in October 2017.
Conan Lee Gray is an American singer-songwriter and former YouTuber. Born in Lemon Grove, California, and raised in Georgetown, Texas, he began uploading vlogs, covers, and original songs to YouTube as a teenager. In 2018, Gray signed a record deal with Republic Records, which released his debut EP, Sunset Season (2018).
Half Written Story is the second extended play (EP) by American singer Hailee Steinfeld, released on May 8, 2020, through Republic Records. It was initially intended to be the first half of a two-part project, but the idea was later scrapped. The EP is Steinfeld's first release since her debut EP Haiz in November 2015. The EP was preceded by two singles, "Wrong Direction" and "I Love You's".
Olivia Lynne Lunny is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. Lunny was crowned a winner on CTV's singing competition The Launch and scored her first Top 40 hit.
"Love (Sweet Love)" is a song recorded by British girl group Little Mix. It was released on 3 September 2021 through RCA Records, as a single in support of their first greatest hits album Between Us. The single was written by group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall, along with Lauren Aquilina, MNEK and Sakima; the latter two also produced the song.
Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum, better known as Blondshell, is an American indie rock musician based in Los Angeles, California. Following an early pop-leaning career under the name BAUM, Teitelbaum debuted Blondshell in June 2022 with the single "Olympus". She has toured with acts including Suki Waterhouse, Horsegirl, and Porridge Radio and has performed at South by Southwest, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Her self-titled debut album was released on April 7, 2023 via Partisan Records, receiving positive reviews.
Blondshell is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Blondshell, released on April 7, 2023 via Partisan Records. Having previously garnered attention as a pop artist under the name BAUM, the album sees Blondshell embrace a darker alternative rock sound inspired by artists of the 1990s. Upon release, Blondshell received critical acclaim, and was included in several publications' lists of the best albums of 2023.