story / Bryanna Doe Singer
photos / Shervin Lainez
Someone Should Stop Her, the new release from phenomenal lyricist Anna Shoemaker, feels more like reading someoneās diary than listeningĀ to an album.
āYou could say that Iām officially cutting ties with the way I used to be,ā Anna sings, over a stripped-down acoustic guitar, in the opening bars of Real Life. From there, the indie rocker takes listeners on a twelve-track emotional journey so imbued with honesty that it feels almost confessional as it contemplates identity, self-improvement, and the breakup that served as a catalyst for that need to cut ties.
āA breakup album is the fairest way to describe it,ā Anna says. āBut itās also about running away. A big theme of the album is that feeling of wanting to get out of wherever you are. Whether itās a relationship, a place that you live, or just a conversation at a party that you donāt want to be in. I think Fields especially sums it up,ā says Anna, referencing the albumās second track. āI donāt want to be here, I want to go do what I want. And I donāt want to compromise.ā
Fields, containing the repeated phrase, āSomethingās coming over me, and I think I have to leave,ā is as much about ending a relationship with a significant other as with a city, or a phase of your life. The ephemeral vocals and not-quite-upbeat-cruising-speed of the track are evocative of jumping in your car and driving somewhere new, in much the same way that formerly Brooklyn-based Anna recently moved out to Los Angeles for a fresh start. Combining this throughline theme of moving forward with some intense lyrical rumination on past mistakes, Fields serves as a tonal āamuse-boucheā to the rest of the album.
That may sound as though Someone Should Stop Her is dripping with angst and raw emotionality, and in Annaās own words, itās the kind of album written for you to āscream and cry along with in the car.ā But at the album’s core lies something more substantial than simply angst. Anna isnāt just dwelling on her negative feelings or rehashing painful situations, sheās pairing them with the kind of mature retrospectionāand introspectionāthat really does make the past worth thinking about. Itās not angst, itās catharsis.
āI think thatās the main way that Iāve evolved as an artist since my last album,ā Anna explains. āIāve grown a lot. Iām less angry now. More reflective, and less reactive.ā
Anna is referring to her angrier 2022 album Everything is Fine (Iām Only on Fire), which earned her the moniker āBrooklynās own Olivia Rodrigo.ā Anna laughs and shakes her head when asked how she feels about that comparison.
āI donāt know,ā she says. āI love Olivia Rodrigo, so I do think thatās cool. But I think that with female artists there’s always this tendency to compare, and it was mostly the angst fueling that comparison. And she and I both sing a lot about breakups, so maybe that has something to do with it. But I feel like everyone sings about breakups, you know?ā
That is probably true. I’m sure we could all list a hundred breakup songs, and we might even have written a couple of our own. But most of those tracks couldn’t touch the lyrical masterwork that Anna Shoemaker showcases on Someone Should Stop Her.
āSongwriting is my favorite part of making music,ā Anna explains, reflecting on how much effort went into penning the lyrics of this album. āEveryone was getting a little annoyed with me during the recording process, because Iād say we had to recut something to change one word or a sentence, because something else in a different song needed to make sense. It was stuff that no one pays attention to and would care about, but it was important to me.ā
āAnd Iām writing it for me, and obsessed with getting the storyline correct for myself,ā Anna adds, elaborating upon why sheās so particular in her lyrics. āEven if I’m writing a breakup song, I’m writing it for myself.ā
Although Anna clarifies that she didn’t write Someone Should Stop Her as a secret message for her ex-boyfriend, I can’t help but ask whether she knowsāor caresāwhat he thinks of the album.
āMaybe he’s heard it? I donāt think heās obsessed with it,ā she answers lightheartedly. āBut he canāt be surprised. Itās not like we broke up and then I became a songwriter. If you date someone who writes songs, youāve gotta be careful, you know?ā
Hypothetical reactions aside, Anna says the albumās reception has been as great as she hoped. āMy outlook when Iām releasing music is that if I feel one-hundred-percent about it, I never really care about the reception. And especially with this album, we worked so hard on it and we were so intentional about every decision we made. I was like, you know what? It doesnāt matter what people think. But itās been really, really great, which is a relief. As much as I say Iām not aiming for that validation, Iād be crazy if I said I didnāt care.ā
Looking forward, Anna is most excited about her upcoming tour with Mallrat, which will begin in Dallas in April. Sheās also ready to get working on her next album, although she isnāt sure exactly what kind of artistic evolution might be sparked by moving to the West Coast.
āIām excited to write more music now that Iām in LA,ā Anna says. āItās cool being in a new place and exploring a new music scene. And I want to say that I feel a different creative vibe when Iām in a different location, but at the same time itās likeā¦wherever you go, there you are. Thatās maybe the big thing I learned working on Someone Should Stop Her. Thereās no such thing as running away from your problems. But I think the final track ends on the same note of positive acceptance Iām feeling now.ā
Anna references the coffeehouse ballad Wishful Thinking, sharing what she says is her favorite line of the album. āI know like a stone knows a river,Ā I know like a finger on a trigger. I know I canāt call you up, because I canāt be there when it all blows up,ā Anna quotes. āI knowĀ I canāt beĀ there, but Iām doing it myself.ā
