Emily Burns confronts matters of the heart on Die Happy

Yet, it wouldn’t have been released without the insistence of her producer Cameron McVey and girlfriend Grace. Invoking the likes of Lauren Aquilina and Wrabel, the 12-track anthology divides its time pretty evenly between piano and guitar to tell stories about finding, cherishing, and grieving love.

The opening title track falls immediately into the ‘cherishing’ camp. “If you’re the only thing that I achieve I’d die happy,” Burns sings, realising that her childhood, Pussycat Dolls-esque bucket list of fame and fortune pales in comparison to the relationship she’s found herself in. Finding love in the little things also feeds into the sunny piano ballad “Balcony Floor” while, on the penultimate track “Stay”, Burns’ barely-there vocals and minimalist production – even by her standards – gently confesses she wouldn’t cope without her partner by her side.

While these songs, giddy and glowing with affection, do make for a tender, heartwarming body of work, the songs where things aren’t so rosy offer the record’s more interesting writing. The paranoid “Cheating On Her” is set to upbeat percussion that provides a glimpse of Burns’ poppier side – for an album you’re mostly encouraged to sway to, it’s also a rare opportunity for a head-nodding two-step. The sorrowful, slow burn “Second Guessing”, which sees Burns regret a recent break-up, stands up as one of the album’s most emotionally charged, as well as some of the strongest storytelling.

On closing track “One Day At A Time”, Burns sets aside her preoccupations with love to take stock of her life, returning to a lot of the imagery on opener “Die Happy”. Like every twenty-something to come before her, she thought she’d have had life figured out by now – or that she’d at least be a better cook. While we know from the title track that finding love helped settle some of these existential concerns, here Burns seems reconciled within herself, too, to simply take the days as they come. As parting words go, it’s a comforting note to conclude on.