Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe

Pitchfork 83

The rapturous debut from the British singer-songwriter takes adventurous pop-rock crucibles to new heights with her illusory songwriting and stunning voice.

The Guardian 80

(ATO/Pias)

This debut sees a decade of pent-up songwriting spilling out of the hilariously talented 23-year-old Londoner Yanya. There’s a faint new wave feel to the gauzy layers of synths draped over some of the material, yet mostly it’s her own, stage-toughened sound, deconstructed R&B fighting it out with spiky rock.

Baby Blu rides in with rebounding harmonies and a subtle house pulse, Heat Rises sees Frank Ocean moping around to the Cure, and Paradise has a gorgeous sense of space to go with its laid-back swing. Lyrically, Yanya’s fascinating interior monologues mix frazzled self-questioning and modish anxiety, with a flicker of gaslight behind lines like “I’ll be lying in a pool of someone else’s blood / saying it’s not my fault if somebody gets hurt” on Tears.