070 Shake refuses to remain static on You Can't Kill Me

Since bursting onto the scene as a collaborator on Kanye West's "Ghost Town", she’s seemingly been fearless in exploring and experimenting with different sounds. Mixing and matching, shaking and stirring the pot, often emerging with a spectacularly unique brand of music, You Can't Kill Me is a continuation of that brand of artistry – one that never sits still. On this project, 070 Shake takes a next step that is exciting, even if not perfect it's still packed full of wonderful moments.

Firstly, this record sounds impressive. From the opening notes on "Web", the album's grandness is apparent. Initially through large, swelling beats and instrumentation – and as the album progresses – strong, rousing choruses. Zoom out a little, and you will realise the similarities flowing through the sound of many of the songs on this album, and in many ways, this consistency is a strength of the project. It lends a form of sonic cohesion to the album, tying it all together as a complete body of work but still allowing for expression within each song on the tracklist.

"History" is an early standout. Starting off with a more sombre delivery on this track, Shake is defiant in declaring, "Despite the things you say to me / We'll go down in history". On "Medicine" she turns up the anguish to go with the more romantic tones that dominate the album up to that point. "When you were sick, babe, I was your medicine I'm your oxygen / But I'm cuttin' off your supply" she sings as she lets go of a love interest. For the only collaboration on the album, Héloïse Letissier of Christine and the Queens offers a seamless companion on "Body", which dives into the complications of physical attraction. The album ends on an unhappy note with "Se Fue La Luz", which is Spanish for "The Light is Gone. A fitting title as Shake rues the loss of a love interest, wishing she could have made things easier but eventually conceding "Some things are meant to be harder". But that's not all; an extraordinary trumpet solo closes out the song and the album, by extension carrying the album's grand theme to the end.

Shake's lyricism is fascinating; she condenses the main messages of each song into a few words, and the whole punch of a track may take up just about a verse or even less. This conciseness is not a negative in itself, but at times it leaves the rest of the song too weak in the lyrics department. There are a few cuts on the album – "Cocoon" and "Stay", for example – which could do with a bit more workshopping lyrics-wise. This is the one slight negative from this album, but it would be unsurprising to see her get better at it going forward.

070 Shake put out a behind-the-scenes look at the making of You Can't Kill Me, aptly titled "The making of YOU CAN'T KILL ME". In it, she mentions her desire to "go off our intuition…just going off feeling, going off your true feeling and not what has succeeded in the past." That desire definitely manifested itself in the music on the album and puts into perspective her deliberate efforts be innovative with her sound and avoid settling down. On You can’t kill me, 070 Shake’s pursuit of new musical frontiers is as intense as ever and even though some parts of this project let down the rest, it is overall a thrilling experience that signals growth from an artist who has a lot more to give.