There’s still time to read about Side A below if you want to take life in its proper order, especially if this is your first time listening to Cyrena Wages, Queen of Memphis, TN.
The early single releases were all taken from Side B. Those singles were the most different from Cyrena’s debut album, Vanity Project. It became evident that they were not true stories, and they were not to be taken literally. There are clues that a lot of fun is being had, and laughter is part of the performance. Sure, they’re about things like murder and deceit and lies and retribution. But apart from that they’re properly funny.
Side B opens with FAFO. When I first heard it on Marylebone station in London, it was still Easter 2025. It was an exciting moment. The first time a pro artist had sent me unreleased tracks for feedback, and I felt the responsibility. This is what CW said by way of introduction: “How would you feel about reviewing a new single and providing your take on the newness of it / how it relates to the past?"
Pretty fucking excited is how I would feel, and the first songs I heard were If It Ain’t Broke and FAFO. They’re two halves of the same story in my mind, and they appear together on the final album. It’s a trip down memory lane to a time when I didn’t know CW, and I present those reviews here. Same Shit is the third track in this sequence, the one in which I compared her to Serena Williams.
As recently as last week, CW confessed that FAFO was the hardest song on the album to write: “Johnny Black had this crazy cool track he was already starting to build and it was Patsy Cline meets Amy Winehouse vibes, and I think we were all conceptually so obsessed with the damn thing that we had to make sure every word of the song lived up to his original idea.”
Hate Yourself
Just as Side A’s Love Letters has stayed with me, another slower song, Hate Yourself, stands out on Side B. It was the last song written for the album and CW suggested that it was Hate Yourself that she was most anxious about sharing:
“Some of them just fall out the sky. The single that just came out was really vulnerable to release. I was scared to release it. And I haven’t had that feeling in a long time. For some reason Hate Yourself made me nervous and that’s a good feeling to have.”
The only conclusion I can jump to after that admission is that Hate Yourself is autobiographical. Whereas FAFO and If It Ain’t Broke were darkly funny stories, this one is firmly in the first person. This is the part of the scar that has healed the least.
Mascara tears, white pillow case
Never more than just a little taste
Sendin’ roses just to save face
Were you in it just for the chase
Loved your family why’d you let me do that
Almost took your name but baby screw that
Wanted all of me and cut me in half
In half
As a Fleetwood Mac fan I’m especially drawn to that enormous crashing cymbal on Hate Yourself that calls to mind Albatross.
High
The piano intro strongly reminds me of a famous song and I just cannot quite figure out which one. It’s definitely Pink Floyd, possibly Great Gig in the Sky. It’s another crackling nighttime desert song. It is deeply personal, a fitting second half of Hate Yourself and a deeply fitting end to the album.
I got Hollywood charm and a bottle of gin
I can play the part, here we go again
And I love you baby
Oh honey I love you baby
I got good intent and a will to win
I got a five dollar man and you know what I mean
And I love you baby
I love you babe
These will be the last words we hear from Cyrena for a while, the final bars of the album. There’s a lot to listen to on Miss Melancholia right now. Looking back through the last eighteen months, I realised I have likely written my 20,000th word on the topic of Cyrena Wages: 20 articles, around a thousand words each, and many hours of interviews. I think we’re still touching the surface.
You can stream Miss Melancholia in all the usual places, but why would you? Physical copies are available direct from the artist here. Tennessee folks can see the album launch party IRL at Hernando’s Hide-A-Way on Nov 14.
