Banks amalgamates female rage, strength, and hope.
After the success of Brat in 2024, “Diet Pepsi” by Addison Rae reaching the Billboard Hot 100, and Tate McRae drawing Britney Spears comparisons, dance-pop is situated at an exciting point in 2025. There has been a palpable shift in pop culture. Sabrina Carpenter, perhaps 2024’s biggest pop star, has songs tinged with country elements; Chappel Roan, who just won Best New Artist at the Grammys, is heavily influenced by 80s aesthetics. Even the newly released Lady Gaga single “Abracadabra” is reminiscent of her 2010s music. Modern pop is based on niches and nostalgia, allowing a fractured audience to find familiarity within old references, updated to fit 21st-century sensibilities.
All these positions Banks’s Off With Her Head as a fascinating case study of where pop has been and where it can go. This aggressive, 2010-pop-tinged album is filled with maximalist bangers, walls of sound pushing the listener into fits of jittery rage. “Delulu” is produced with a sleekness evocative of “Dangerous Woman” era Ariana Grande while packed with provocative Tik-Tok-ready lyrics. Banks belts out, “My therapist just quit me… fuck that bitch though she don’t get me.” These confessions are in vogue with the brashness that acts like Charli XCX have ushered into the past year.
Perhaps brazness is the main theme of Off With Her Head. Whether it’s on “Best Friends,” where Banks mourns a breakup with a fellow outcast, or her side-chained vocals describing “the best pussy of their life” on “River,” Banks exudes an off-the-cuff energy to her lyricism and delivery. This lively candidness adds color to what sonically feels like well-covered territory. Off With Her Head is an exceptionally well-produced album. You can feel the intensity of the choir and strings on “Meddle,” and Sampha’s feature on “Make It Up” colors the track with beautifully placed swells.
“I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend,” which features a 2024 breakout star, Doechii, is a perfect example of how Banks’s attitude alone can create a dynamic pop record. The collaboration is fiery and playful, blending Banks’s bravado with Doechii’s sharp presence. However, the track can easily blend into the pop landscape. With a persistent bassline and charged, distorted guitars on top of a typical four-on-the-floor beat, the strength of the vocal and rap performances seems to warrant a more dramatic musical flare that is not delivered.
Off With Her Head is undeniably a well-crafted album that showcases Banks’s refined ability to blend pop, maximalism, and attitude into a polished package. While the record doesn’t necessarily break new ground in terms of genre or innovation, it effectively captures the current state of pop music. The album’s nostalgic nods to the 2010s and its intensely raw energy reflect the ongoing trend of looking back while pushing forward. Off With Her Head is emblematic of the times—a beautifully executed album that speaks to the current dance-pop moment without reinventing it.
