Jayde’s ‘Sad Songs’ has uplifting twist

At first glance, Jayde’s debut EP might look like a parody. Titled “Sad Songs About Sad Things,” the cover image shows the Canadian singer, chin in hand, looking forlornly off to the side and away from a small mirror.

But the EP is not a joke, and it’s not merely a mopey spree of defeated ballads.

Instead, the 21-year-old Jayde delivers a diverse collection of “bedroom pop” songs tied to downcast themes but not surrendering to negativity. The Toronto-based singer has an air of a scaleddown Ariana Grande about her as she captures both acceptance and defiance, starting with a blunt “F This” that finds her dancing around rhythmic electronic jabs as she decisively gives up on a relationship: “Don’t call/i never really needed you at all.”

She’s both flirty and fatalistic in the glossy R&b-pop-electro of “Untitled” (“We both know this won’t end well”), and there’s an odd seductive resonance in her voice on “Sad AF,” which is about being inwardly consumed by unhappiness but outwardly in denial about it (“Ignorin’ all the problems isn’t gonna solve ’em”).

Eventually Jayde does abandon mid-tempo cuts to sink into a closing pair of ballads. First is an “Electricity” that builds into a dramatic and melancholy apology where the singer concedes, “It feels like we’re losing electricity.” “Enough for U” follows, finishing out “Sad Songs” with devastation as Jayde admits, “It’s true, I’m no good for you … but I’ll just keep waiting till you let me know” before her voice ascends into a swirl of string effects.

Nevertheless, the overriding theme of the stylish “Sad Songs About Sad Things” is that sadness exists, but you can persevere. And that’s a happy consolation.

Jayde

“Sad Songs”

Rating:

4 (out of 5)

JAYDE “Sad Songs” by Jayde.