Bella Latham, aka pop princess Baby Queen, approaches songwriting much like one would approach writing in a diary: not every entry will be happy, but each will be real, and each will tell a story. This approach was the basis for Latham’s most recent release “You Shaped Hole,” the fifth track off of her enthusiastically awaited album The Yearbook, which is scheduled to drop in September.
The vibrant and lively melody gives the breakup song genre a much-needed revamp without lessening the lyrics’ emotional impact; almost everyone can identify with the feeling of losing someone and feeling like you’ve lost a part of yourself in the process. And Latham is very comfortable speaking candidly about this feeling: “At the time I had this image in my mind of a hole inside my body that was shaped exactly like my ex, and it was as if I was trying to fill that hole in any way I could, but the things I was filling it with never reached the corners or made me feel any better, they just cluttered my life.”
The experiences that Latham chronicles in The Yearbook trace all the way back to 2018, when she first moved to London and had to contend with the good, the bad, and the ugly of city living. And listeners love her bluntness; in spite of the sometimes painful content she writes about, Latham is undeniably magnetic as an artist and performer.
Baby Queen is the older sister you never had; she knows her way and wants to help you navigate yours. “You Shaped Hole” is a song of regret and hurt, but it’s also a testament to the strength it takes to rebuild. And If it’s any indication of what’s to come in the next year, we have reason to be excited. We get to follow Latham’s coming-of-age story, and hopefully, she’ll play a role in ours.