When I saw that underrated pop-princess Hemlocke Springs had dropped a new single, I was ecstatic. What better getting-ready soundtrack for my first day of junior year classes? But as I listlessly scanned my pile of clean clothes for an outfit, “The Beginning of The End” only brought my mood down. How can it be a good day when one of your favorite artists takes a musical turn for the worse?
I had reason to expect better from Hemlocke Springs, the artist name of the 26-year-old North Carolina native Isimeme Udu. Her 2023 EP “going…going…gone!” put a pop spin on ‘Talking Heads’-style absurdism, balancing an exploration of the weirdness and vulnerability of living and loving with the levity of a girlish, glimmering singing voice and exhilaratingly airy, dreamlike melodies.
For example, “Stranger Danger” (2023) uses the disarming fun of dance beats and cliches like “shake it baby” to satirize the unease underlying romance as a woman in a world where dating often ends with our faces on missing posters.
Fast forward to 2025, and Hemlocke Springs has dropped two singles, “The Beginning of The End” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, as teasers for an upcoming debut album–but her signature magic isn’t in them. Some of the hallmarks are there, but it’s diluted and disappointing.
The vocal intro to “The Beginning of The End” waxes whiny, and it can’t finish one melody before jumping to the next. For a second, the single’s catchy, cute, cryptic chorus sounds like classic Hemlocke Springs, but it quickly ends with an awkward transition to the same befuddling riff used in the intro.
The soft, plaintive bridge “maybe I’m a grain in the sand / maybe it’s the way that I am” is a redeeming moment, especially because it smoothly gives way to that shoutable, starry chorus, but the majority of any song is its verse, ergo the majority of this song feels lost.
“Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” is similarly disappointing. Chanting lyrics can be good in moderation, but it’s as if this song doesn´t know when to stop. I did; I knew I had to stop listening fifty-eight seconds in. When I did finally listen to all four minutes, I was relieved to hear a few redeeming moments towards the end, but I had to get through three minutes of unease and disappointment first, and that is not how it should be.
Hemlocke Springs managed to make chanting elegant in “Stranger Danger” by offsetting the tension created by chanted verses with the release of a lush, sung chorus, giving listeners a much-needed break. “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” provides respite from constant chanting only in its outro, failing to save the majority of the track from feeling cluttered. The song does sport the bumping, neo-eighties, synth-pop beats that render most of Hemlocke Springs’ music irresistible – but such a bedazzled, foot-tapping instrumental deserved a better vocal melody.
I am happy that Hemlocke Springs is onto bigger and better things, such as gaining exposure by touring with my other, more-famous favorite, Chappell Roan. I hope that as she does, she is dreaming up songs just as good as the ones she wrote back when the biggest venue she played was her own college.
Josie • Dec 2, 2025 at 11:08 pm
What an engaging article. I have not listened to this artist myself, so I can not determine with evidence if I agree or not. Yet hearing a personalized review makes me interested and want to give the singles a listen for myself. I really enjoy how to intertwine your own emotions along with how you absorbed the music because it gives the writing more of a deeper and original flow. Being someone myself who can’t go without listening to music every day helps me relate to the fact that just a song or album can sway a certain emotion or mood you have in the moment. Listening to music that disappoints you only drops that said mood. I really enjoyed reading this.
Lilah VanLeer • Dec 2, 2025 at 2:07 pm
I really liked how this article showed how music can affect your whole mood and day especially in today’s time. For example, if I’m listening to something somewhat “hyper” before school in the morning , then my mood increases in a good way. The way the writer showed an example like the song “Stranger Danger” helped me understand what could possibly be missing in her newer songs. I do of course think that if an artist starts off strong, then that’s what their listeners are always going to expect, although it’s a tad unrealistic but reasonable. Therefore the comparisons are something that I think made this article super strong because even though the newer songs aren’t up to par, the writer still hopes that Hemlocke Springs improves and I liked that a lot. It shows that you can be honest when writing without being disrespectful, and that’s something more people could tune into.