Maisie Peters’ The Good Witch is easy, pleasant, clever pop

After a long stretch where barely discernible ‘mumble rap’ and hazy, languid R&B beats dominated the radio and tilted popular music, the pandemic has ushered in a new wave of feel-good, glittery pop. This year, Ava Max and Ellie Goulding shifted their style to this emphasis on fun, and TikTok-minted newcomers like Reneé Rapp and Mimi Webb have entered the ring as well.

Maisie Peters’ second album, The Good Witch, follows the same pattern: a solid album of dance-pop paired with the same bounciness and clarity that mid-2010s pop songs used to dominate the radio. Peters could have easily lapsed into forgettable lyrics, but often includes topics done in a smart way that pop music back then would have never touched: body dysmorphia and even gender switching to assert dominance (on one song she declares, “You’re just a boy, and I’m kinda the man.”)

Peters knows how to write a catchy song, and her voice is smart, sharp, and fitting for the digs that permeate the album. “Lost The Breakup” pares down a past relationship to a competition capable of winning, a race to see who can get out of it quicker, stronger, and better – much like MUNA’s recent “One That Got Away.” “Coming of Age” and “There It Goes” tracks self-development and assurance in oneself: “I am the Iliad,” she says on the former, “Of course you couldn’t read me.”

The album includes more tender moments, when Peters is at the opposite end of the breakup: “Watch” goes into pop-punk territory as she sees a former partner’s success (“You’re being a superstar and all I got are victim cards”); the peppy “Body Better” sees her in a moment of speculation and envy, wondering if she’s been dumped because a different girl has a nicer body than hers; “BSC” ditches the pretenses and manners, admitting how a relationship affected her. “You think I’m alright, but I’m actually motherfucking batshit crazy,” she sings, which narrowly loses the title of the album’s funniest line to “I am both Kathy Bates and Steven King,” appearing on the same song.

The record’s few missteps largely reprise themes or instrumental ideas that are too dated: “Two Weeks Ago” is an attempt at a power-pop ballad, and “Want You Back” has a better premise, but still sounds as if it’s plucked from ten years ago, right next to Rachel Platten’s inescapable “Fight Song.” “Therapy” too, is a little contrived, an unwelcome symptom from Instagram mental-health speak: “How come you’re taking me from your arms back into therapy?” she asks, without realising what’s discussed in that session might make for a better song topic.

The Good Witch is pleasant pop, a record that doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard while still cutting with witty writing. Peters has a fun side, but her creativity is evident in places like closer “History of Man,” which boasts topics most pop stars wouldn’t even think to write about, going back through history and discussing the gender differences between powerful men and women. “Women’s hearts are lethal weapons,” she says, “Did you hold mine and feel threatened?” Such is the story of a woman with smarts and heart to spare.