BØRNS – Blue Madonna

The Triumphant Return of BØRNS

After two years away from the music scene, Garrett Borns (known as BØRNS on stage), has returned with the release of his sophomore album titled Blue Madonna. This sophomore album is a refreshing follow up to BØRNS’ debut album Dopamine and brings an eclectic offering of tracks to the table.

The album opens with “God Save Our Young Blood,” which features Lana Del Rey and was a huge hit among fans of BØRNS upon its release as a single. This really is a strong track to open with because it does a great job of showcasing both the talent he holds in his lyricism as well as his amazing vocals. This track also does a great job of balancing the presence of both BØRNS and Lana Del Rey throughout the song, along with some of his best writing featured in the verses.

“Faded Heart” and “Sweet Dreams” were both released early on as singles from the album and both brought different sounds to the listeners, making it a little more difficult to guess what exact sound the album as a whole would possess. “Faded Heart” served as a strong first single in that it does a fairly good job of tying the sound of Dopamine to the new vibes featured on Blue Madonna.

The album starts to take a turn in sound by the fourth track, “We Don’t Care.” The entirety of this song embodies a rock vibe that is not normally something listeners hear from BØRNS. While it is not a bad sound for BØRNS to experiment with, it is still very different from what he has released before, meaning it may take some listeners some time to get used to it. As far as the vocals on this track go, it is clear that BØRNS is entirely influenced by the great work of David Bowie. Although this track goes against the norm for BØRNS, it is still worth listening to.

While teasing songs from this album, BØRNS released a series of videos titled, “The Search For The Lost Sounds,” which gave a slight insight of all of the sounds that inspired BØRNS during the making of Blue Madonna. The fifth track on the album, “Man,” does a great job of showing just how complex the layering of these sounds got to be on the album. Alongside the complexity of the music comes somewhat of a Cher vibe (but better) to the vocals. Trying to isolate just one sound from this song makes for a fun and challenging time.

“Iceberg” is the next track on the album and does a wonderful job of isolating BØRNS’ vocals and really highlighting just how talented of a singer he truly is. One of the best parts of BØRNS’ art has always been the poetic nature of his writing, and “Iceberg” is a great example of this skill. There is something enchanting about the metaphor of an iceberg used in this song that really makes it a stand out track on Blue Madonna.

Each track on the album takes the listener to a different place than the one before it, and “Second Night Of Summer” takes the listener poolside in the summer as BØRNS sings his way through heartache. There is a certain level of simplicity to this track that works for the purpose of the song itself. The wittiness of BØRNS’ writing is still seen in the simple line, “throwing me that shade like I’m not cool enough,” making it yet another strong track of his.

Continuing the discussion of BØRNS’ ability to write some really beautiful lyrics, “I Don’t Want U Back” is a track that has some of his strongest writing due to the nature of the song. The verses reveal that this is a song about betrayal in a relationship, making for some very heartfelt and emotional lyrics on the track. This song really takes the listener through the inner turmoil that comes with a toxic relationship in the second verse when he shares his struggle with running into said ex-lover years later. While this track seems very simple on the surface, it is one of the strongest on the album due to the level of skill in writing the lyrics.

The interlude on the album, “Tension,” is short, sweet and to the point, in that it barely exceeds a minute and a half in length. However, it is an extremely catchy tune that is sure to get people dancing with some of his more racy and sexy lyrics. Although this song does not carry much weight as far as the amount of time taken up on the album, it is still a fun track to listen to.

“Supernatural” brings a very ’70s vibe with it through the effect used on his vocals along with the instrumentals used. On first listen, it is clear to see that this is a very BØRNS feeling track in the way that it is presented through the mixing of vocals and music. There are also some fun quirks mixed into the track that keeps the uniqueness of BØRNS as a pop singer alive and well.

The impressive nature of BØRNS’ writing continues on the track “Blue Madonna.” The second this track starts the poetic lyrics begin to paint a beautiful picture for the listener that really ties together the vibe of the song as a whole. It is another sexy song, but it is presented in a very tasteful manner that really showcases BØRNS as an artist.

The album wraps up on a strong note through the ballad-esque track, “Bye Bye Darlin’.” The airiness of BØRNS’ voice on this track is entirely encapsulating, making it easy to get lost in the song as it plays. Just when it seems the album is over, there is a nice little surprise at the end of this track that is mixed beautifully and somewhat reminiscent of the intro to “Past Lives” off his first album. It is a nice way to tie the complexity of these new songs to what listeners are used to hearing from BØRNS.

Overall, the randomness and uniqueness of Blue Madonna as a whole really eludes to both the randomness and uniqueness that is BØRNS as an artist. With an album like this BØRNS can look forward to a big year in 2018.