The crazy thing about Ava Max is that I’m not sure where I first heard her. While I’ve made a concerted effort to keep up with new music and flip through radio stations while I’m driving around, I can’t say that I can pin her down. She’s a new kind of pop star, existing in the ether somewhere inexplicable. To be totally honest, I didn’t even think it was her when I first heard “Kings & Queens.” Sure I liked the song, but my brain kept telling me that I was listening to a song from the Broadway musical Six.
I want you to try listening to the first 20 seconds and not get the sensation that it belongs in that show. At the very least, it appeals to the same crowd who are interested in updating Medieval imagery through the lens of contemporary culture. Blame Hamilton all you want, but it’s clear that Max is interested in a kind of fusion on her debut “Heaven & Hell,” finding herself battling between the good and evil in her life. There are occasional callbacks to kings and queens, reflecting a dominance, or a fantasy of control in your own life. It’s the type of hokey shtick that actually makes the record fun (come to think of it, I may have mistaken it for Six on TikTok, though even that feels unclear).
As far as I can tell, Max is having a great 2020. Despite ongoing problems, she has looked to continually release catchy tune after catchy tune, giving us reason to dance and feel like our best selves. While I honestly don’t know that any of the songs have permeated with me as much as “Kings & Queens,” it’s an admirable debut that finds her reaching out to find her voice, playing with songs about self-confidence and lyrical wit that makes you envision that she’s on the verge of something even more exciting and worthwhile.
In all sincerity, Max’s album for the most part feels at times more like pastiches to her pop music elders, whether they be Lady Gaga (her most common comparison), Gloria Gaynor, Ace of Base, or even (in small doses) the confessional style of Lily Allen. This album is packed with ideas that are fun, infusing them through a lens of fun. You revel in her experimenting with the sound and an image that is wholly organic, but can’t help but recall Lady Gaga’s early days with “The Fame.” I’d go so far as to argue that the conceptual structure of splitting “Heaven & Hell” into two halves feels reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s penchant for concept albums, a’la “Chromatica.” If nothing else, the introductions to each half share similar energy.
Even if this is her official release, she has been on people’s radars since releasing “Sweet But Psycho” in August 2018. It’s one of those underdog stories you can’t help but root for, believing that she has her ear to pop music and knows how to tweak a melody to its full advantage. While conceptually it is a straightforward song reminiscent of Hot Topic consumers, it’s definitely given a deeper heart, painting Max as an outcast who doesn’t need to change in order to win over our approval. Sure, she’s nowhere near as esoteric as Billie Eilish, but considering her love of Medieval motifs and spirituality in an otherwise conventional pop album, it’s a worthy note.
With a hefty eight singles to this album’s credit, the goal of making a feel-good album turned out to be a big success. While it at times plays like a novelty, there’s something organic and fluid about the direction that things travel. Starting with “H.E.A.V.E.N.” the listener is given a choir welcoming them with an organ, slowly fading into the songs that are about to follow. Given how electrifying the opening of “Kings & Queens” is, the first two minutes have this staggering control, able to make you understand her talent immediately. She knows how to write a hook. Her breakdown features a pop-infused guitar solo. It’s goofy, but it’s definitely a ton of fun.
Also, it’s clear that she has some skills in writing. With backing vocals accompanying her, the ascending harmonies create an empowering message that is direct but brilliant:
If all of the kings had their queens on the throneWe would pop champagne and raise a toastTo all of the queens who are fighting aloneBaby, you're not dancing on your own
Whether you see it as a commentary on how COVID-19 has kept us isolated or being independent, it’s a scenario that puts you in the right headspace for the rest of the album. Max is there for you. She will guide you through this journey and make the world feel like a better place, if just for 44 minutes. After all, you’re a warrior for getting up every day and trying to make the most of things. It’s a recurring theme on the album and one that’s perfectly accompanied with the argument of whether a relationship can be good (heaven) or bad (hell).
More than anything, the accomplishments of the album are the way it paints the woman as a warrior, capable of navigating the real world with confidence. While everything has this authenticity, none of it is played for novelty or pandering. When she sings on “Naked” about how sometimes you can take off your clothes and not see you naked, it’s a greater metaphor for the depths of a soul. It’s a quest to find someone who understands you on a level so invisible that it becomes spiritual.
At other points, she manages to recall other artists, even unintentionally. On “OMG What’s Happening,” her backing beat has a disco vibe reminiscent of Gloria Gaynor. It’s helpful that the album manages to feel like a dance record that fluctuates between styles just slightly enough, but for more informed listeners it may make portions like this distracting. When it’s at its most conventional, it ends up accidentally borrowing from Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom” in the chorus for “Born to the Night.” Still, it’s a brief blip in the bigger picture, finding her experimenting enough with of a sound that it never becomes cloying. For an album with a largely straightforward message, its mix of styles is impressive that it all fits within the vocal style that she’s delivering.
It’s in the presence of clever percussion, or a vocal flourish that comes in the background. She knows how to make these songs illuminate with a personality that is engaging, capable of making you feel like she’s so much more. Even the fact that each song sounds like an individual accomplishment while exploring the themes of relationship heavens and hells proves that she’s capable of something much more complex. Sure it may be a straightforward idea, but for a debut, it manages to make the chintzy pop song into something grander, more rewarding when put alongside a picture. While it’s an incomplete picture, it does feel like we’re getting a distinctive introduction to Ava Max, and it’s a pretty good one.
The second half starts with “Take You to Hell.” As alluded to in the lyrics, this is the portion where she takes to task the men in her life that have done her dirty. It’s a bit of a revenge fantasy, but it’s also the journey of a warrior trying to find her independence in a world that has continually misunderstood her.
It begins with “Who’s Laughing Now,” which has an Ace of Base-style groove underneath, leading to a song about personal acceptance. You think that you can take Max down, but she’s capable of doing so much more. You just watch. It’s a fun song, capturing her joy in a revelation that only comes with experience. It’s one that must push through hell, showing the men what they’re missing out on.
The next song, “Belladonna,” finds her putting on autotune and bringing back the warrior imagery with a song that pulls the heaviest from ancient history, proving deep down her ties to this culture while trying to make it cool to her fans:
Forgive me for making you wait up for meI'll pull you in like the waves of the seaI promiseYeah, I promiseIt's hard to forget me, just wait and you'll seeI cannot help it, it comes naturallyIf I'm honestI'm never honest
It’s a song that manages to make the name Belladonna into a fun little hook, finding herself pulling from these mythical figures in such a way that you buy her strength. It’s the type of approach that suggests that Max is made of something greater, able to be great because women have always been that way. It’s just the way that you perceive situations. The same goes for “So Am I,” which proudly declares herself a misfit and that everyone should be fine being themselves. While it feels odd on an album whose sound covers the bases of familiarity in pop, it works as this decent encouragement song.
The album ends with two of the best songs on here. Starting with “Salt,” she creates a song that captures a breakthrough, proving that she’ll be back in heaven before too long. Once again it’s a song that pulls from iconographies like Marilyn Monroe and Wonder Woman, using them as empowerment symbols. While they may seem a bit overused, they work in this context as she proudly declares:
I'm all out of salt, I'm not gonna cryWon't give you what you want'Cause I look way too good tonightI'm all out of salt, tears are running dryWon't give you what you want'Cause I look way too good tonight
It’s the perfect flippant remark that proves how much hell the man must be going through, feeling regret for what he doesn’t get to enjoy in this life. The album ends with “Sweet But Psycho,” which is where everything started. It’s another cheerful, fun song that you wouldn’t feel too mad about putting on, ready to groove and dance to.
While the album isn’t anything revolutionary, it’s one of the better pop albums of 2020. It’s the sound of an artist who feels destined for greater things, creating a lot of the biggest hits for the next few years. Even among the lesser songs on here, there aren’t any outright duds. It’s full of this polished energy that perfects her sound and makes you wonder whether she’ll continue to get weirder or embrace something more conventional and less interesting. Either way, she has the potential to be a big star and it’s exciting to hear an album full of that kind of promise.
If nothing else, “Heaven & Hell” is a perfect duality in exploring love with a few of the best songs of the year. Try not to get “Kings & Queens” stuck in your head after listening. It’s the song that maybe achieves its goal the most, making you want to slay proverbial dragons and dance with your friends. That, at the end of the day, is what makes the album so brilliant. It doesn’t fall apart the more emotional it gets. Instead, it gets more lively, more capable of making you sweat with exertion. While most of the older pop stars have had a rough year (Katy Perry), she feels like she’s busting down the gate, ready to take their place. Something tells me that she’ll be around for a while, though I’m not sure if that’s just the TikTok talking.
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