Switching it up from their usual goth-pop sound, Pale Waves are back with their second album, Who Am I?, a release that sees them explore a more pop-rock route, the type of sound Avril Lavigne had during her Let Go era. Which is not a bad thing whatsoever, as everyone loves a bit of Avril, however it would help if the album stood out as much.

There’s no denying that Who Am I? has it’s moments, such as catchy opening track ‘Change’, ‘She’s My Religion’ that is set to become a classic LGBTQ anthem in years to come, and the anthemic ‘Run To’ that will have you jumping and dancing about the room. But the rest? It all blends together and it’s hard to pick out which track is which.

It’s not an awful experience, in fact it’s a fun album to listen to and have on in the background, but that’s pretty much it. It’s hardly memorable, which is a shame as a lot of the tracks have potential to be epic, for example ‘You Don’t Own Me’ had the chance to be a punchy ‘fuck you’ type of track, sticking it to those who want to criticize your every move, but it just ends up being a type of PG-13 friendly track used in the background of a teen drama when a protagonist is standing up to a bully.

In fact, most of this album could be used in the track listing of any stereotypical teen show, which again isn’t a bad thing as some teen shows have some pretty incredible songs used in the background, but the issue with the ones on Who Am I? is that none of them make you want to say “wow, I love this tune, who performs this?”.

It’s a shame really as this change in style really suits Pale Waves, they had such potential to create a stand-out album instead of what we got here. It’s hardly going to be a classic album in years to come but if Pale Waves were to work on it they could create many incredible tracks as seen with ones mentioned before.

To sum up; Who Am I?: easy to listen to, but easy to forget.