After months of beautiful photo shoots and promising hit singles, Maya Hawke’s third album, Chaos Angel has finally been released. The entire album prides itself on being a bundle of emotions, showing Hawke at her most vulnerable moments while still maintaining her gorgeous vocal elegance. To say it excels at these things would be a disgusting understatement. The album covers a wide range of topics, such as the painful acknowledging of toxic relationships, feeling like you’ll never be good enough, holding yourself back to save yourself from the disappointment of failure, and even the pain we’re all bound to experience as part of being human. The entire duration is raw and exposing, yet touching, and almost feels like Hawke has opened her mindscape to the viewer in a beautiful moment of interpersonal connection through song.
Chaos Angel is ten tracks long, and about a 36 minute listen. The longest track is only four minutes and 44 seconds in duration, so while it’s not a long album, it’s by no means a bad album. As a matter of fact, it’s not a stretch to call it downright phenomenal. Each track is jam packed with beautiful instrumentals, meaningful lyrics, and vocals that highlight how powerful your voice can be, even if you’re not singing too loud. The album is so good, in fact, that this article is going to go song-by-song to discuss just how good each of them are.
The Tracks
- “Black Ice”
This is a heartbreaking track about how painful, confusing, and even conflicting being a human being can be, especially as she starts to fall in love. She wants authenticity, but she’s so afraid of dishonesty. Hawke uses gorgeous imagery to paint each scene she wants the listener to live in, and the immersion never shatters for a second. To tie it all together with a beautiful ribbon of existentialism, she sings a verse about human nature, and it’s just as great as the rest of the song is. Yet, the best part of the song are the words that the listener is left hanging onto as the song ends, where Hawke sings:
“Give up, be loved…”
- “Dark”
This song may seem confusing to some, but Hawke’s meaning shines through the chorus, putting the rest of the song into perspective. The chorus sings about waiting out the night, feeling as though the battle against sleep is only fought with the moon- the indicator of nighttime, and the harbinger of its darkness. She’s battling her insomnia as she awaits the sun or the void of sleep, and spends the time unwillingly reflecting on her life and her mistakes. She critiques her own behavior in the beginning of the song, when she sings:
“I don’t want to cry in your t-shirt ever again- well, my anger was a compliment.. / I like how your brain works, magic thinkers trying to be friends / Tried to let you forgive me, but my Celtic cross was heavy when it hit your f****** teeth…”
- “Missing Out”
“Missing Out” is genuinely one of the best songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. I apologize, as I always do my best when writing reviews for articles, but I’m (a little) biased when it comes to this song. It’s a track about how you feel like you’re not good enough compared to your peers, so you don’t bother applying yourself more than you feel you’re worth. Why? To spare yourself the disappointment of life, of course. She reflects on all these things she’s missed out on in life because of it, like exciting opportunities, love, etc. It’s even more apparent when Hawke sings about how much more valuable she used to be, with “I remember my potential before I skipped the fundamentals.” This song is irrefutably the gem of the entire album, and has an amazing backing guitar over her beautiful vocals, with an amazing message that makes it stick out in the lyricism of modern day as a heartfelt track about knowing you’re worth something, but not as much as you could’ve been if you weren’t so afraid. I adore “Missing Out.” Oh, and the best lyrics of the song shine through when she sings:
“Didn’t think I’d get in, so I didn’t apply.. Now I’m a drunk hanger-on hitting on the younger guys. I buy booze for the Ivy League with my television salary– they think they look up to me? Ha..”
- “Wrong Again”
This song tugs at the listener’s heartstrings as Hawke sings through the pain of being so in love with one of your friends, and not knowing how they feel in return. She’s paranoid and on edge, considering if it’s even worth it to risk losing the friendship just for a relationship she might not even be right about. Hawke adds to this pain with the chorus, where she claims:
“Falling is the fastest way to make an old friend.”
- “Okay”
One of the album’s weaker tracks, but by no means a bad one. The song repeats the same lyric over and over, where Hawke sings “If you’re okay, I’m okay.” Despite the repetition, the song never gets boring, as its instrumentals swell and build up, having this huge triumphant moment in the middle of the track, before settling down once again and slowly relaxing and fading into the background with the vocals as it comes to a close. Obviously an experimental track, and yet it’s extremely successful in what it tries to accomplish with the instruments, and is a great song.
- “Better”
Honestly, this is probably the only “bad” track on the album. But even then, it’s not bad by any means. It’s more of an interlude than a full song, and it features an auto tuned Hawke singing with a small group backing her vocals. That’s about it. It’s short, too, with only one1 minute and 18 seconds of runtime. Luckily, though, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, so it doesn’t end up being grating or annoying on a full album listen. For that, I appreciate what “Better” tries to do.
- “Big Idea”
A track about breaking the confines this doomed world has bestowed upon us, it’s a song that serves as a reminder that Hawke is not only Gen Z, but a member of it with a powerful voice and strong ambitions for the future. She sings about how evil the world is, calling it a “malistic missile,” and her God that “nobody should trust.” Yet, she builds on the exciting idea of individualism, when she sings “Don’t let them tell you how to feel, you don’t believe in the big idea.” The track is absolutely gorgeous, and is a true highlight of the album. The third verse especially shines in the third verse, as it which is just chock full of great lyrics. In said verse, Hawke sings:
“I brought poppy seeds to a gunfight. I put a match to an electric tea light. I feel your heartbeat in your hair, drinking milk at the county fair.”
- “Hang In There”
This song is a true work of art. It has relaxing vocals and instrumentals, but when you listen to what the lyrics are saying, you feel just as protective as Hawke does. It’s a difficult story to think about having to experience yourself, where you know your friend is being manipulated in a toxic relationship, but you can’t do anything about it. All you can do is affirm your friend’s feelings, hoping to point out more flaws of the relationship until they acknowledge the toxicity and step away. This is most shown when Hawke sings:
“Man, I wish I could take his teeth out.. He’s gonna get away with it- I know, I’ve been there. You’re gonna get the hang of it- hang on, hang in there..”
- “Promise”
This is basically “He loves me, he loves me not,”, but as a song. Also, it’s a lot more poetic than that elementary game. “Promise” is a track about feeling that romantic attraction between two people, but not committing to each other. It can feel a little convoluted trying to decipher its meaning, but when you hear the chorus, it all makes sense. In it, Hawke sings:
“I never promised to come home, you never promised me you’d wait. But, a promise is a plaything guaranteed to break.”
- “Chaos Angel”
The album concludes with its title track, and it’s just as great as the rest of the album. In “Chaos Angel,”, Hawke reflects on herself and her journey throughout her life, and how much she’s changed. Now, she’s (as she puts it herself) “independent,” “decisive,” and “a big kid.” And, in this beautiful ballad, she admits she’s finally ready to love someone again. She says that throughout all of this mess that her life is, she knows she’s in love with her interest, and is ready to commit to it. The album concludes with the beautiful, pained, and love-struck lyrics:
“I love you, I want you, I promise I’m sorry… I promise I love you.”
If you couldn’t tell, this album is absolutely phenomenal. It ticks every single box you could ask for in an album, and shows just how much Maya Hawke has grown as a musician. She’s hurt and hurting, but is so open to experiencing love once more, and is ready for what comes next. Her heart is, as she says, “on the floor” and ready for someone to take that exposed love and appreciate her for it. And this album should be appreciated with all of the listener’s love, with a very solid 9.5/10 rating. The only reason points were deducted were because of the awkwardness the interlude “Better” can be, but that’s only a real problem if you listen to it on its own.
You must, must, MUST give Chaos Angel a listen. There’s no reason for you to avoid it. It’s a quick listen, it’s an elegant and tear-jerking listen, and it’s available on all streaming platforms. Give Maya Hawke the support and love both she and this album deserve, and stream it.