There are two responses to change that ultimately both end in acceptance: you can fight against it for as long as humanely possible until you eventually settle into the groove of this new normal or you can throw yourself into it with everything you’ve got and see it as everything working out exactly as it’s meant to. On her new album Win Win, Fenne Lily opts for the latter.
Written during a great period of transition when Lily moved to New York and experienced the breakdown of a long term relationship, at face value it’s a record that focuses on the heartbreak of loss of all kinds: of community, of love, of childhood pets but equally the opportunity it brings for starting again. “Uh Huh” opens the album, staged as a conversation between the singer and a loved one after this breakup with the title being her response to questions posed. It comes across uncertain at first but by the end, she reminds herself that if she’s done it before, she can do it again.
Across the album, she’s in and out of emotional limbo. On “Room to Room” she lingers over the pain of losing her childhood dog written from the perspective of her other childhood dog whilst elsewhere, she transitions into trying to process the anger that comes with the end of a relationship. On “Sleeping” she finds herself rehashing what she missed before the relationship went wrong and on “Thank you, Sorry” she doesn’t hold back from spilling the truth about why it ended in the first place.
By the time “Win Win” is approaching its end, the anger that permeates much of the album begins to disappear. “Two Ways” is lighter and breezier than its predecessors, the first real sign that she’s moved past the hurt she has experienced for the most part anyway. Closer “In Life and on Planes” is ultimately just the singer and a guitar as she meanders through returning to a childhood home and an argument that saw a relationship on its last legs. Just as she’s starting to admit to feeling comfortable existing alone, she’s joined by background voices that affirm that she is ready to move on with other people.
