The first thing I came to Like about this EP was the name. “Sincerely, AB” is a step in the best possible direction for a growing artist who is still figuring out her sound. There’s only so much you can learn about who she’s going to be by taking in her current catalog, but even the idea of adopting an explicit position of sincerity, says more than you might think at first.

I like that there’s a certain humble modesty in the way this EP unfolds, it’s a presentation of who Ally is as an artist right now, what sounds she values, and the pursuit of her future musical self. The EP itself is a clean and crisp downtempo pop/R&B galore with a surprising spice at the courtesy of the Hip-hop rhythms baked into pretty much all the songs.

Ally’s top musical asset right now seems to be her voice, which is perfectly suited for the R&B flavor she leans on for this EP. The most noticeable aspect of her voice is the very tender sound she’s able to project with it, almost as if she’s vocally caressing your ears in the most gentle way possible.

While Ally’s voice is genuine gold, I did feel like she could have taken a bit more of a risk in musical terms. the first 3 songs favor austere snap-filled beats with equally minimalistic melodic involvement. This has the effect of giving full protagonism to the vocals that we may better appreciate, but I personally dig songs the best when there are more layers to the melody that you can sink your teeth in. At the end of the day, this is more of a personal nitpick based on my own preference, and I also understand Abby is still in a stage where she’s exploring new sounds.

The last two songs -while still austere- do a better job of accompanying Ally’s vocals, with “T-shirt” coming out as my second favorite in the EP. The ethereal synth melody plays off really well with the vocals, enhancing the delivery in ways that the previous minimalistic beats did not by creating a much more atmospheric track, the likes of which I hope we’ll hear more in the future.

The final track of this EP is called “Thank you”. An uplifting and highly emotional ballad on the love that shaped the Ally Barron that we hear before us today. The open letter to her parents and her friends comes as the perfect sendoff both in theme and tone for the EP, It is pure sincerity and radiance, and it stands as my absolute favorite of the lot just on the sheer power of the emotions being conveyed here.

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