A Review of Annika Zee’s Latest Mesmirising Works… ‘Emerald Spy’
- I'm Not From London
- Sep 29
- 2 min read
On Emerald Spy, Toronto-born multimedia artist Annika Zee delivers her most daring and conceptually rich project yet: A genre-defying album that fuses 90s pop nostalgia, ambient electronica and abstract lyrical storytelling into a vivid, emotionally resonant whole.
Across its tracks, Annika Zee explores the tension between personal fragmentation and collective empowerment in a digital age defined by extractive technologies and algorithmic bias. The result is an album that refuses to be boxed into conventional pop frameworks, instead offering a vision rooted in memory, resistance and radical tenderness.
The record unfolds like a tapestry. ‘Hell No’ opens with a fierce rejection of dystopian futures and the systems that enable them, its synth-driven production bristling with urgency. ‘Can’t Hear You’ acts as a disarming critique of war, fame culture and social media saturation, while ‘Wondering’ provides a dreamy, optimistic counterpoint that imagines a different kind of future. Elsewhere, ‘I’m Dead’ interrogates identity, stereotyping and toxic love with biting clarity; ‘Can You,’ produced with Will Smith at Jamie xx’s Octave Studio, takes a surreal, improvisational approach to examining power dynamics in relationships and systems through a mixed-race lens. ‘Puppet,’ inspired by Malcolm X, rejects systemic oppression with unflinching resolve, and ‘As They Call’ closes as a haunting meditation on colonial legacy and the necessity of reparations.
Annika Zee’s ability to connect personal and political themes is matched by her sonic adventurousness. Her production melds shimmering synth textures with percussive details and global rhythms, creating an immersive world where every track feels like a different angle on the same prism. Her voice – alternately cool, impassioned and otherworldly – threads the album together. More than just a collection of songs, Emerald Spy feels like an invitation to reimagine community and collaboration in an age of fragmentation. It’s bold, uncompromising and, crucially, deeply moving – a reminder of how pop can still be a site of radical imagination.
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