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The EP no one else, not even you by Mae Muller arrived on Nov. 6 to serve as a solid follow-up to her debut album Chapter 1. Muller is an up-and-coming pop artist from the United Kingdom, who has risen in fame by accompanying British pop group Little Mix on its 2019 tour. While this EP doesn’t do much to impress, it’s pacing is quick enough to never get too obnoxious or boring.
The EP boasts 8 songs and comes in around 22 minutes. Its length means it doesn’t stick around for long, but there doesn’t seem to be much to dig into. Most releases with 8 tracks would be full-blown albums, but there’s only one song on no one else, not even you that’s over 3 minutes. No song lasts long enough to annoy listeners, but it doesn’t feel like any track is given the room to be very impressive either. This has some major repercussions when it comes to a few of the tracks, leaving what could be great as just passable.
The opening track “dependent” suffers because it isn’t given the room to breathe. The concept encapsulates the fear of losing dependence in a relationship, but the production fails to send this message home. But, the track is over in the blink of an eye. It feels like Muller is rushing to get the song over with. As a result, it feels forgettable. It’s definitely a track that might have benefited from extended playtime or a more impressive lyrical hook.
One of the leading singles “HFBD” suffers a lot more from the breakneck pace of the album. It’s one of the shortest songs on the album, and its hook feels pretty meanspirited as a result. Lines like “I hope it is the worst day of the year / Everytime you celebrate, you’ll be thinkin’ of my face” are brutal jabs at the guy she’s breaking up with. With a few lines about him “misbehavin’ in the club” and “chatting to the girl from the café,” the song’s clearly looking to emulate others like Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats,” but this song isn’t effective because it takes entire verses to craft the cheater as someone who deserves what’s coming to him.
Muller’s vocals and production on the EP also leave a lot to be desired. Working in a field with powerful female vocalists like Ariana Grande, Muller’s vocals lack memorable qualities that shot her predecessors into stardom. Billie Eilish’s sleepy falsetto proves that vocals don’t have to be loud or meeting an impressive range as long as the production is solid, but Muller doesn’t really do much on that front either.
The final nail in the coffin for no one else, not even you is the blandness of a lot of the lyrics. The tracks “dependent” and “HFBD” were notable because the short runtimes of each track harms what could have been two interesting and fun songs. But the lyrics of most of the songs solely dwell on poor relationships. Mae Muller is still fairly new to writing music, so she hopefully will improve on future releases. But, no one else, not even you feels like a misstep. Muller’s vocals and the EP’s overall production feel like half-hearted attempts, and there isn’t enough to make the EP lyrically impressive. Muller’s latest release doesn’t feel like it’s completely fleshed out—not unexpected for a budding musician—leading no one else, not even you to be a fairly forgettable EP.
Photo courtesy of Capitol Records
