At 15, most people are still working out what they want to be. Piper Connolly already sounds like she’s worked out what she doesn’t want to be: quiet, easily packaged or particularly interested in behaving herself.
The Phoenix, Arizona artist’s six-track EP she’s too much! takes the accusation in its title and wears it like a badge. There’s plenty of attitude here, but attitude alone is cheap. What makes Connolly interesting is that underneath the alt-pop styling, razor-edged imagery and youthful defiance, there’s evidence of an artist beginning to understand how to turn personality into songs.
beautiful life is a clever opener because it doesn’t immediately go for the throat. Connolly is examining the gap between how life is supposed to look and how it actually feels. Her voice has enough character to stop the track becoming another polished piece of teenage pop, and there’s a confidence in the delivery that belies her age. It could afford to get slightly messier, though. The production is controlled almost to a fault, when a little more dirt around the edges would make the emotional moments land harder.
Then comes bubblegum with razorblades, which might be the best description of Connolly’s musical world on the entire record. Sweetness followed by something considerably sharper. This is where her identity starts making proper sense: pop instincts colliding with an alternative streak that doesn’t feel bolted on for effect. There’s a danger with this sort of thing that the aesthetic becomes bigger than the song, but Connolly mostly avoids it. The hooks do the heavy lifting rather than the image alone.
better than this pulls things inward. There’s less need to prove anything here, and that restraint suits her. If there’s an area she can develop as a songwriter, it’s this one. The bravado is fun, but vulnerability gives the louder moments something to push against. More contrast like this would make future releases considerably more potent.
joyride kicks the doors back open. There’s movement to it, the sort of track that feels designed for windows down, volume up and sensible decisions postponed until tomorrow. Connolly has established such a specific sonic and visual character that occasionally you want her to rip up her own rulebook. The song works, but an unexpected structural turn or genuinely ugly burst of noise could have made it feel dangerous rather than merely rebellious.
body bag provides that darker turn. Even the title announces that the bubblegum has been put away for a minute. Connolly sounds comfortable leaning into heavier imagery, and importantly it doesn’t feel like someone playing dress-up in alternative music.
There’s conviction behind it. This is another place where the production could push further, though. When a song is called body bag, you can afford to leave a few bruises. A nastier guitar tone, a more abrasive ending or simply something that threatens to come off the rails would amplify what the writing is already trying to do.
By the time unapologetic arrives, the closing track feels less like another song title and more like the EP’s closing argument. Connolly has spent six tracks dealing with the idea of being excessive — too emotional, too ambitious, too loud — and ends by refusing to shrink herself to accommodate it. There’s a satisfying sense of completion to that, and the confidence feels earned rather than manufactured.
Piper Connolly is 15. That shouldn’t be used as an excuse for shortcomings, nor should it become a gimmick used to inflate perfectly ordinary songwriting into something miraculous. Judge the songs as songs. On that basis, she’s too much! is an impressive but not fully formed EP.
The biggest opportunity is for Connolly to become even less polished. There are moments when the record sounds ready-made for playlists when it should perhaps sound ready to upset somebody’s parents. Her strongest ideas suggest an artist capable of taking considerably bigger risks than she currently does. Let guitars sound horrible. Let vocals crack. Let a song end somewhere uncomfortable. If your entire proposition is being “too much”, occasionally being genuinely too much would be rather useful.
What she already possesses is harder to manufacture. There’s recognisable character in her voice, a strong visual instinct and, crucially, songs underneath the presentation. The attention gathering around her — from Apple Music support to radio play on South Africa’s 5FM and industry recognition — provides momentum, but none of that matters much if the music can’t survive without the biography attached.
These six tracks largely can.
she’s too much! doesn’t sound like the finished Piper Connolly, and thank fuck for that. At 15, finished would be considerably less interesting. This sounds like someone discovering exactly how loud she can become — and the next step should be turning the volume up until something starts to distort.
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