Any album that features both a song called “Heartthrob” and another called “Heartbreaker” is intentionally experimenting with range. So it should come as no surprise that the breadth of style available on Indigo De Souza’s fourth full-length album, Precipice, is as wide as the tracklist itself—and certainly wider than anything she’s attempted before.

Precipice, released back on July 25, is De Souza’s most ambitious sonic statement yet, a deliberate foray into pop territory that manages to feel both calculated and instinctive. De Souza collaborated with producer Elliott Kozel (SZA, Yves Tumor, FINNEAS) on this album, and you can certainly feel the tendency toward fuzzy electronic instrumentation coming through. Yet, the album refuses to settle into any single mode, instead bouncing between influences with the confidence of an artist who knows exactly what she’s doing, even when she’s venturing into uncharted waters.

The Hits

“Heartthrob” emerges as the album’s most direct descendant of her earlier work, channeling the same energy as “Take Off Ur Pants” into a true rock anthem. It’s De Souza at her most unapologetic, dealing with themes of trauma and cynicism through a lens that’s both unflinching and oddly cathartic. This isn’t music for healing—it’s music for surviving and moving on.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, “Pass It By” offers a lightly tropical, Postal Service-style indie rock number fused with an ’80s sentimental groove that wouldn’t sound out of place on a-ha‘s greatest hits. But there is a dark undertone to the melody, and the lyrics are suffused with a distinctly millennial despair that transforms what could have been nostalgic pastiche into something more urgent and contemporary.

This despair reaches both its climax and its possibility for redemption in the title track, “Precipice.” Here, born of acceptance rather than denial, De Souza finds something approaching grace. It’s the album’s emotional centerpiece, and the moment where all her genre-hopping finally coheres into something singular.

Finally, “Clean It Up” stands out as one of my favorite tracks on the album, though its genesis in terms of musical influences is perhaps the most straightforward. With prominent acoustic fingerstyle guitar, soft rock percussion, and lyrics focused on shame and healing, this is essentially a boygenius song on an Indigo De Souza album—and I mean that as the highest compliment.

The Misses (Or At Least the Maybes)

My only real disappointment comes with the opening track, “Be My Love“, which feels more like guided meditation than proper song—a repetition of mawkish Gen Z-inspired mantras over background synth muzak. While still enjoyable for what it is, it’s an easy cut from the album, and given the authority to do so, I’d probably make that exact edit.

“Crying Over Nothing” presents a more complicated case. It could easily be a Céline Dion song, though not one I’d particularly enjoy. This comes down to personal taste more than objective quality, and its utility in displaying De Souza’s range makes it an asset to the overall album experience, even if it doesn’t quite land for me as a standalone song.

The Sleeper Hit

My prediction: “Crush” will be popular but still significantly underrated for its potential as a pop song. It has that ineffable quality that makes for great sampling material—I suspect it’ll be one of the most mashed-up tracks in contemporary pop DJ sets for several years to come. There’s something in its DNA that feels both familiar and completely fresh.

The Verdict

It’s hard to say exactly what De Souza is on the precipice of with this album, but it’s exactly this indeterminacy that constitutes a true precipice, a true frontier. The album succeeds, not despite its refusal to commit to a single direction, but because of it.

Precipice captures an artist in transition, unafraid to experiment even when the experiments don’t all land perfectly. It’s messy in the best possible way—the kind of messiness that comes from genuine artistic risk-taking rather than careless execution. Rather than selling out to pop influence, De Souza has simply expanded her panoply. It is less clear than ever what her future sound might be, and I think on some level that fact itself must constitute a certain artistic success.

I, for one, will be staying tuned.

Rating: 7.5/10