Baby Queen’s ‘I Hope You Don’t Remember Me’ Signals a Darker Chapter

Baby Queen has returned with I Hope You Don’t Remember Me, her second full-length and a decisive turn from the sound of 2023’s Quarter Life Crisis. That debut, even in its messiest moments, leaned into a sugary sheen. The new 11-track record swaps that for a sustained melancholy that still finds room for her cutting humor.

The opening track, “Abigail,” sets the tone with stark piano and lines that reject brightness outright: “Can’t bear to look at the sun when it shines / All of my dreams played out in black and white.” The somber mood persists, yet it never flattens into monotone. On “Permanently Obsessed,” gleaming synths disguise the admission “There is something wrong in my head / Like the chemicals are all fucked up,” while “Spite” channels bitterness into taut, snarling energy.

What separates this record from mere wallowing is the clarity that threads through it. “Tongue-Tied” pulses between rage and vulnerability (“I still wanna fuck you like I love you, maybe I do”), but the delivery feels unusually purposeful, not scattered. Latham’s songwriting has hardened