So Where To Today?

At 19, every moment feels pivotal. For Cloe Wilder, who put her first EP out when she was 14, that couldn’t be truer. The impending end of Cloe’s teenagerdom was wracked with unexpected changes and relationship upheaval. Her adulthood transition is captured on her new Americana- inspired, third EP Life’s A Bitch, where she reflects on the past and takes the reins of her future. Wilder’s honesty as a storyteller comes through in different ways: The driving “Heavyweight Champion” glitters darkly, while “Tallahassee” goes gentler. She has a deep appreciation and wonder for her life, evident in her evocative, nostalgia-laden narratives. Wilder channels Old Hollywood glam; her floral and satin dresses skew toward core influence Lana Del Rey. Despite her grander aesthetic choices, Cloe’s dreamy, warm performance is immediate and intimate. On poppier “Cigarette,” she chuckles at her misguided exercise in “fucking around and finding out.” Trying that first cig was more of a metaphor: a working performer on a different course from her college-bound friends, she wanted a moment of rebellion, too. Cloe’s ability to rasp or float over piano and guitar give feelings of both groundedness and flight. Whether she’s being introspective about her childhood or romanticizing the plainest conversation, she doesn’t shy away from serious topics — “but I like to sound sweet while I sing about it.” When she titled the EP Life’s A Bitch, she was being a little sarcastic, but mostly serious.