Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is the fourth overall studio album by American singer-songwriter and producer Caroline Polachek, and her second to be under her own name. It was released on February 14, 2023, by Sony Music, The Orchard, and Polachek's imprint Perpetual Novice.[1][2][3] Polachek produced most of the album alongside Danny L Harle.
A reissue of the album, subtitled Everasking Edition, was released on February 14, 2024, the standard edition's first anniversary. It was supported by the singles "Dang" and a new version of "Butterfly Net" featuring Weyes Blood.
Background
After releasing Pang in late 2019, Polachek was set to tour the record, but was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Polachek stayed in London and began work on Desire, I Want to Turn Into You with close collaborator Danny L Harle. She considers the album to be a major partnership with Harle, as the record has "few other collaborators in the mix". She continued work on the album in London until mid-2021, where she briefly relocated to Barcelona alongside Harle and new collaborator Sega Bodega.[9]
Dua Lipa announced Polachek as a supporting act on the North American and Canadian legs of the Future Nostalgia Tour from February to July 2022,[11] performing at many festivals as well. Polachek was featured on Flume's "Sirens" in March,[12] and wrote and produced the track "Afar" for Hyd in July.[13] She rescheduled European tour dates to finish work on Desire, I Want to Turn Into You.[14]
Six weeks ahead of the album release, in an interview with The Guardian, Polachek confirmed three more song titles: "Blood and Butter", "Pretty in Possible", and "Smoke".[15]
Composition
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You has been described as an art pop, alternative pop, and new-age record, with elements of Drum and bass,[16][17]electronic, rock, and trip-hop.[18][19][20][21] Shaad D'Souza of The Guardian wrote: "Ratcheting up both the fantastical elements of its predecessor as well as its humour and pop instinct, Desire is an eclectic, elaborate and cheekily deranged sequel, and one of the year's most anticipated releases". The album features bagpipes, children's choirs, Spanish guitar, "beats that run the gamut" from Ray of Light-style trip-hop to dembow, Celtic folk, and early '00s-style radio pop. Polachek herself described it as "a very maximalist album".[15]
Release
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You was announced in December 2022.[22] At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024, Polachek hinted that she would be releasing something on Valentine's Day,[23] which is Desire's first anniversary. Three days later, the reissue of the album, subtitled Everasking Edition, was announced.[24]
Singles
Polachek released the lead single "Bunny Is a Rider" in July 2021, which was written before she went into lockdown.[25] She released the trip hop inspired "Billions" as a single in February.[26] Polachek stated the song took 19 months to finish.[27] The single featured a rework of "Long Road Home", her collaboration with Oneohtrix Point Never from his 2020 album Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, as the B-side.[28] "Sunset" was released as a single in October. Polachek has cited Ennio Morricone's Spaghetti Western film scores as an influence on the song.[29] "Welcome to My Island", which Polachek calls her "brattiest song to date", was released alongside the album announcement.[22] On January 20, a remix by Charli XCX and the 1975's George Daniel was released.[30] "Blood and Butter" was released on January 31, 2023. "Smoke" was released as a single on April 6, 2023, during her Spiraling Tour. It was accompanied by a music video that premiered on the same day.
Polachek released "Dang" on October 17, 2023,[31] as the lead single from Desire, I Want to Turn Into You: Everasking Edition. She performed the song the same evening on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.[32] After Polachek and Weyes Blood performed "Butterfly Net" live together several times throughout 2023, including at the Glastonbury and Fuji Rock Festivals, they released their joint version of the song on February 7, 2024,[33] alongside the Everasking Edition announcement.
Upon release, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 94, based on 19 critical reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[35] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave the album a 8.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[34]
Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Matt Collar opined that the album "finds Polachek unapologetically embracing her inner pop diva, purposefully referencing a '90s and early-2000s pop aesthetic. This is an album of balmy trip-hop grooves, where electric bass riffs, finger-snap beats, and sky-blue synths caress her angelically swooping vocals like dolphins chasing a boat. It's an immediately evocative vibe that she commits to, deftly walking a fine line between earnest romanticism and artful irony." He concluded that with the album, "Polachek breaks free from outside expectations and transforms her inner anxieties into an intoxicating pop euphoria."[45]
Cat Zhang of Pitchfork wrote that the album was the best of Polachek's career, giving it the distinction of Best New Music.[43]Maura Johnston reviewed the album positively for Rolling Stone, calling Polachek an "undeniable talent as a vocalist and arranger" and the album an "example of what happens when pop sets out to transcend its own limits."[44]
In a mixed review for NME, Ella Kemp praised Polachek's experimentation but said that some tracks "suffer[ed] from a more abstract vision" and called the album an "uneven collection".[41] Gabbie Nirenburg also provided a middling review for No Ripcord, calling the album "just fine". She questioned if there was "anything on this record that is really SO unique or special or different from every other competent art pop album out there?"[46]
Polachek embarked on the Spiraling Tour to promote Desire, I Want to Turn Into You.[80] The tour included North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, beginning on 10 February in Brighton, England and ending on 13 December 2023 in Brisbane, Australia.
Track listing
Desire, I Want to Turn Into You – Standard edition
"Spring Is Coming With a Strawberry in the Mouth" is a cover of the 1986 song of the same name, as performed by Operating Theatre.
"Coma" is a cover of "Pharmacoma (For Ben Deitz)" (2019), as performed by Default Genders.
"Long Road Home" is a rework of the 2020 song of the same name, as performed by Oneohtrix Point Never featuring uncredited vocals from Polachek. It was not initially included on the album, but was added to the Everasking Edition eight days after release.[81] The reworked track was first released as the B-side to "Billions" in 2022.
^Hakimian, Rob; McMullen, Chase; Pickard, Joshua; Wohlmacher, John; Finlayson, Ray; Amen, John; Kohner, Kyle; Early, J. T.; Thomas, Carlo (December 12, 2023). "BPM's Top 50 Albums of 2023". Beats Per Minute. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
^Werthman, Rania Aniftos,Katie Bain,Eric Renner Brown,Leila Cobo,Hannah Dailey,Stephen Daw,Kyle Denis,James Dinh,Thom Duffy,Ingrid Fajardo,Griselda Flores,Josh Glicksman,Quincy Green,Paul Grein,Lyndsey Havens,Rylee Johnston,Carl Lamarre,Elias Leight,Jason Lipshutz,Joe Lynch,Meghan Mahar,Heran Mamo,Taylor Mims,Gail Mitchell,Melinda Newman,Jessica Nicholson,Danielle Pascual,Isabela Raygoza,Kristin Robinson,Dan Rys,Damien Scott,Andrew Unterberger,Christine; Aniftos, Rania; Bain, Katie; Brown, Eric Renner; Cobo, Leila; Dailey, Hannah; Daw, Stephen; Denis, Kyle; Dinh, James (December 6, 2023). "The 50 Best Albums of 2023: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Pearis, BrooklynVegan Staff, Amanda Hatfield, Andrew Sacher, Bill (December 18, 2023). "BrooklynVegan's Top 55 Albums of 2023". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved December 27, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Pareles, Jon; Caramanica, Jon; Zoladz, Lindsay (November 30, 2023). "Best Albums of 2023". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
