'Live Laugh Love' by Sizzy Rocket
Although Sizzy Rocket (born Sabrina Bernstein) is from Los Angeles and Charli XCX (born Charlotte Aitchison) is from Cambridge, the two share a lot in common: they’re both 30-year-old singer-songwriters who have penned work for others, they both present their sexuality as a confrontational dare, they both demonstrate commanding stylistic range, and they both probably should be bigger than they are.
However, and as her stage name playfully indicates, Rocket’s more of a rocker than the pop-minded XCX: her fourth album, Live Laugh Love, starts with “Rockshow in the Basement,” a slow-motion grind that namechecks the Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant” and deliberately teases out, then sneers at, the expectation of an explosive Pixies-style chorus.
The very next song, the title track, satisfies the expectation immediately and goes on to deliver a pop-punk jolt with shiny production values that could fit between some of the better Green Day and Rancid songs, with a dollop of No Doubt catchiness on top.
Rocket’s scrappiness balances her slick approach to the material and makes it easier to believe her attitude is more than a posture accessorized with smeared mascara and ripped fishnets. Whether she blares her words a la Kesha on “Rebel Revolution” or sings the title of “Suck My Luv” almost as sweetly as Kylie Minogue sings “Chocolate,” she gets the tone right.
She also gets even closer to Minogue with a disco-pop number like “Lasso the Moon” and shows off a strong, prime-Cher vibrato on “Wild Woman.” Even her most deliberately obnoxious songs, like “Degenerate Anthem” and “Bubblegum,” can’t hide her artistic intelligence and curiosity.
At the end of Live Laugh Love, she doesn’t bother to hide anything in “With My Idols,” an openly lovely ballad that can be heard as a renewal of hope and as a suicide note. If Sizzy Rocket should be bigger than she is now, she’s determined to do it closer to her own way.
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