Fast Track to the Big Leagues
Ggwendolyn is on her way to becoming a bona fide icon with her debut album Superstar Syndrome. Vulnerable yet infectiously upbeat, each song brings something new to the table. The star power that Ggwendolyn exudes is palpable.
The opening track from which the album gets its name, “Superstar Syndrome,” talks about following your dreams against all odds. In the Instagram post that announced the album, the singer wrote: “for so long I felt like I needed to be farther along and more ‘successful’ to be allowed to make an album until one day I woke up and remembered I have free will and something to say.” There’s no better way to describe the contents of this song than what has already been said. She sings about being helpless against the visions she has for her own life over vibrating guitar and relentless percussion. Every lyric clearly comes directly from lived experience, manifesting a future that’s undoubtedly waiting for her after releasing an album of this strength. It’s the perfect opener for the rest of the album to come.
The curated pop sound of the first two tracks takes a turn towards twang with “Crisscross Way.” A deep, country-style guitar that seems to play with an accent of its own supports the singer’s deeper tone and Southwest American lyrics.
The same tone carries over to the following song, “Don’t Break Up The Band.” Ggwendolyn’s vocals really shine on this song as they flip between strong belts and soft harmonies. It’s reminiscent of Sabrina Carpenter’s more country-esque songs in that it has fun, maintains a popstar-like confidence, and plays around with a slight drawl every now and then. A twenty-second interlude filled to the brim with horns, percussion and powerful guitar brings listeners right to the final chorus with ease.
“Jock My Style” opens with a unique voice saying “He’s never surfed in his life,” immediately followed by a funky, summery, beachy guitar riff that won’t leave your head. Ggwendolyn sings with such confidence that you can’t be anything but on her side as she sings about copycats surrounding her on all sides. Building her case one ad lib at a time, by the time the song concludes, it becomes clear that truly nobody can jock her style.
“Little Louder” starts as more subdued but no less heartfelt than its sister tracks. “Naive Gigi, why don’t you see you’re right where you are supposed to be” works beautifully as the motto for the entire project. Woven throughout each song are themes of being unsure of one’s placement within this world but carrying on past it all. As the song progresses, the aforementioned lyric repeats itself, drilling it into listeners’ heads. Ggwendolyn effortlessly lifts her listeners up while learning to sustain the same height for herself.
Superstar Syndrome started with a forlorn hope for stardom and ended with a one-way ticket to the big leagues. Ggwendolyn bares it all out on the tracks for everyone to see and is all the better for it. Fun, emotional, creative and refreshingly new: Superstar Syndrome really does have it all.
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