mud (2026) // remi wolf

i want to write this review in a more unorthodox fashion. i've loved remi wolf for years now, so i'm bound to have a strong bias towards anything she puts out. i am critical too; her last album big ideas was perfectly agreeable, but not a stand out for me. mind you, i went to an album release event, covered myself in merch and saw her on two occasions in anticipation of the release, so i was certainly set up to love it. however, i only thought there were a few songs on the album that really stood out to me like cinderella and pitiful. a lot of the others were kind of lackluster.

mud is a culmination of remi's experiences, growing intuition, pains, and maturity. i feel mud is remi at her most realized so far; it has complex and mournful vocals and subject matter, but the aesthetic and branding feels perfectly in line with her most authentic self. filled to the brim with swamp queen imagery, it perfectly juxtaposes the messy with the sexy. the irony of mud as a symbol for sexy and desirable is such an incredible overarching theme and concept for the album, painted over every song with a light touch.

for that reason, i decided to do my album review as a song by song analysis. its not a deep dive, per se, just my thoughts on each song individually and how they contribute to the overall album aesthetic.

before i get into each song, i just wanted to say that i was overall impressed with the level of excellence an artist like remi who is stubbornly independent and involved at every level of the production process can be. it is such an F U to the big labels/catalogue chasers who insist that you can't be anything without them. there are surprisingly few folks on the song credits (and that includes one song that credits her dog). just pure musicianship and talent, and remi knowing exactly where she shines and how to show that off best. the album is not overdone, not glittery, just to its roots excellent.

song by song breakdown:

(personal favs denoted by *)

bottle *

bottle is one of the singles released before the album, and it might just be because i've had more time with it than the others, but it is one of my aboslute favourites from the album, i've just connected with the lyrical content so much. bottle points at the very serious and specific experience of depression and alcoholism and how they interact. "cant get the bottle if i dont get up" hurts in such a targeted and acute way. i honestly would love to hear remi talk about her relationship to alcohol and alcoholism publically a little more; this album alone has 3 seperate songs that have some kind of alcohol reference in the title, and i know that liquor store from juno is also about alcoholic romanticization. in her newsletter right after mud's release, she did outwardly say she doesn't drink anymore, and im so curious to hear her story about sobriety, because i imagine there is so much there to learn about. regardless, i think this song was the most perfect opener for the album, and single to tee up the release.

champagne

what i find really brave about champagne is that it could have been mixed in this wide, arena-eqsue reverb environment, but i felt it was a very intentional choice to bring the whole mix more forward and intimate. it speaks to the false grandiosity that drinking champagne implies. idk, maybe my headphones aren't the best... but it felt very metaphorically charged. the whole song has an inherent desire for a "my life is a movie" moment, but it confronts the harsh reality that life is not cinematic and is messy and unproduced. this song is a total scream-out-your-driverside-window type beat, casual by chappell roan vibes.

one major complaint i have across the album is the head and tail ends of many of the songs; i think the mastering was poorly done, which is such a shame. this song has a banjo lick at the end that would transition really well into twiggy, but theres a mis-cut audio clip at the end of this that totally interrupts the album flow.

twiggy

i want to really give credit to the music video on this one, because i honestly think it adds a layer of aesthetic context to this song withour directly referencing the lyrics. i really think thats the mark of a great music video; adding to the song without mimicking the song. in the video, remi and a lanky white boy are mud wrestling in minimal clothing, and this song is very much about infatuation with a twiggy little white boy and wanting the redneck country lifestyle, with the flimsiness and falsitude that comes with. there is something about her being all sexy while mud is stuck in her teeth that dictates the irony of the whole album: sexy is gross, and gross is great.

burn me blue *

to me, this is the beating heart of the album. it is a total outlier stylistically, leaning hardest into the country sound with soaring lap steel sounds and a trailer park trash vibe. remi has cultivated in the last couple years this camo hat, cargo shorts and crop top vibe, a sort of romanticization of the griminess of trailer park america. burn me blue is the epitome of that. remi has said that this album is about the things that hurt her. so many of the songs are romanticizing ugliness, grossness, and things that destroy her (e.g. twiggy is about a lanky boy who barely cares, bottle is about being so depressed you can't even drink, covered in mud is about just the worst kind of masculine man, and i wont cry is a wailing distress call). i think burn me blue is the mitochondria of all of this.

jamie

i could have done without this whole track, i frankly hate it. its too uncomfortable to sit through all 5 minutes of it. something about it feels upsettingly voyeuristic, like im sitting in on someone else's pillow talk that i certainly wasn't invited to. what sucks is the singing is really really beautiful and impressive here, i just wish it was more singing and less weird spoken word. the instrumental reminds me of a cuco song, which is a positive thing. idk, this could have been something else, something so much better.

covered in mud *

in my notes for this i just wrote: cuuuuuuuuntry. i couldnt even tell you why i love this track so dang much but oh my god. it rocks. the tension built in this song is just excellent. top class banger.

in the very last second i think theres a mastering mistake? weird and seemingly unintentional idk.

moon so high

oh remi you sly dog how did you get john mayer on this one. i feel like the lizzy mcalpine girlies are gonna eat this one UP. i think vocally this is remi at her best: knife sharp lines, gorgeous BGVs on john's part, its her USC thornton education comin in to say hello. it brings me great pride when i get to see remi being delicate. it isnt something she does often; her personality is very bright and brazen. when she does use a delicate touch in her music, it really demands attention in a whole new and beautiful way. its like watching a pitbull snuggle with a baby bunny, yknow?

i wont cry

i highly HIGHLY highly suggest checking out her performance of this song on jimmy kimmel, because it broke me. i wont cry takes the aspects of motorcycle from her last album that i i loved (ballady, delicate and whispy, full throated and wailing, impatient, proud), and took out any of the parts i didnt like about that song. it feels like an elevated version of a ballad; she is able to be careful and connected, with a terrifying quiet anger that demands attention. i get the feeling that she recorded the whole vocal line in one take. i saw in an interview once that she gets nervous singing without a microphone in her hand, so i picture her recording this with the condenser held between both hands in a prayer formation, on her knees begging for one more try. this is a vocal art piece. truly incredible technique, and a pleasure to see. my only complaint is i dont really see the vision for the music video, it doesnt feel like it connects with the song.

wine drunk

this song is going to EAT live. it is so energetic and forces the listener to bounce up and down along with the drum part. heavy on the hannah montana vibes, or if i'm still making chappell roan comparisons, this is the giver. i've been saying for YEARS that pop music has a severe lack of banjo, and this song is serving up what we've all been missing. it feels like it hits a similar note to pitiful from big ideas, with comparable arrangement and form. and i know for a fact that song rocks live, so OH boy.

guess

i believe guess is one of the more refined pieces of her entire discography. its a big reason i believe this album is her most mature and fully realized, it centralizes the cultivation of self that this album has. i just love to see remixes in this context: belting it out on her buttery vocals. even though this is a more mature sound for remi, it pulls at the reasons i fell in love with her voice from the very beginning; the fullness, the tension, the texture, and the control.

yellow rose

i really love the mixing of this song. theres a wild bounce-back delay that meshes so well with the reverb, it might be a tremolo? idk but it creates this faux vibrato that is so interesting. the whole song has a loungey jazz vibe which is very akin to the sound she brings to one of my favs on her whole discography liz, and accompanied by the brass, it has so much weight and thickness. the first time she says the word "rose" she finishes the word with a breathalized, unsounded "s", and her voice basically ends in a controlled break. what a wild show of technique, she impresses me constantly. this song was sung from a primal, ancestral part of her. this song is such a great closer for the album, in general i think the order from start to finish was well selected.

in short, i think mud is an epic, brash, dissonant concept album with so so so much talent on display and so so so much to love. it isnt a no-skip like juno, and it isn't a work in progress like big ideas, its something all of its own. im happy to see this new remi wolf era blossom.