By Shailey Wooldridge | Staff Writer

“Descendants” Disney Channel star turned singer and actress Dove Cameron released her EP “Alchemical: Volume 1” Dec. 1.

Except for Miley Cyrus, I’m not typically a huge fan of the music released by former Disney Channel stars. Cameron has a beautiful voice with a high range, so I had different expectations for her music.

On first listen I felt disappointed. Two out of eight songs, “Breakfast” and “Boyfriend,” were released in 2022 meaning there were only six new songs fans could listen to. The lyricism seemed lazy and she didn’t employ the high vocals I’ve known her to be capable of.

After sitting with it awhile and giving it another listen, it still didn’t impress me but I began to see the vision.

“Lethal Woman” provides a good opening for this body of music. An eerie piano jumps into a beat drop and Cameron sings “she’s a lethal woman.” I don’t like the sound but I can appreciate the production. It’s reminiscent of something I’d hear at an electronic dance music festival I got dragged to with its full 808 bass sounds.

Cameron slows it down on the second song “Still.” The best way to describe this song is that it sounds like she’s heartbrokenly singing into a microphone in an empty opera house.

“Breakfast” employs some of the songwriting I first considered lazy, but on second listen silly would be a better term. Cameron sings of being the stereotype of a maneater, or a woman who uses men to have a series of sexual relationships without caring about them. She makes the term literal with the lyrics “I eat boys like you for breakfast, and I know that you tried your bestest, I never said it’s right but I’m gonna keep doing it.”

“FRAGILE THINGS” is the song I enjoy most and closes the album. Cameron sings of her significant other being careless with the life they built together and compares the memories of that relationship to living in a house you built that has been destroyed. This song features a delicate sound, almost like a lullaby.

I would recommend “Alchemical: Volume 1” to people who are fans of Madison Beer, another musical artist with a similar sound. It’s not anything new but moments when listening that I could appreciate. I would love to hear Cameron use the full extent of her vocal ability in the future.
Official score: 5/10

Categories: Arts & Entertainment