Glaive – ‘I Care So Much That I Don’t Care At All’ review: hyper-pop star gets reflective

12 July, 2023

Over the past three years, the chaotic, underground world of hyper-pop has become one of the most vibrant, influential music scenes going, with Glaive comfortably taking on the role of ringleader. While the likes of 100 Gecs delight in jarring surprise, Glaive (real name Ash Blue Gutierrez) has showcased just how catchy the free-wheeling, choppy genre can be.

READ MORE: Glaive: teen hyperpop prodigy with fans in Lana Del Rey and Travis Barker

2021’s ‘All Dogs Go To Heaven’ EP was a rapid assault of moods, sounds and intensity that saw Glaive moving at a million miles an hour while last year’s expanded ‘Old Dogs, New Tricks’ saw him threaten to outgrow the scene entirely. His career has undergone a similarly rapid trajectory, with fiery collabs with Travis Barker and Machine Gun Kelly alongside a world tour with Justin Bieber prodigy The Kid Lario.

Glaive’s debut album ‘I Care So Much That I Don’t Care At All’ sees him slowing things down and reflecting on his hectic journey so far. More an uncomfortable coming-of-age record than a barbed attack on the pressures of fame, Glaive kicks things off with the brutally honest ‘Oh Are You Bipolar One Or Two’. Starting with a gentle piano, the track explodes in a burst of suicidal ideation, ragged loneliness and flickering optimism while the Timothée Chalamet-sampling ‘As If’ sees him defiant and refusing to change. With nods to homophobia and fentanyl addiction, it’s a modern take on bratty emo and the rest of Glaive’s debut album is just as complex.

‘17250’ wrestles with heartbreak over blistering pop-punk while the stripped back ‘Pardee Urgent Care’ looks at a toxic relationship through a rose-tinted lens before a dreamy guitar solo closes things out. It’s not all gut-wrenching emo though. ‘The Car’ is perhaps the most pop Glaive has ever gone, sounding like The 1975 meets Harry Styles, the title track is full of gratitude and a newfound lust for life while the shimmering ‘All I Do Is Try My Best’ is driven by a glorious sense of self-acceptance. There’s ambition that goes beyond leading an underground scene.

Speaking to NME last year, Glaive revealed he was “working on the narrative” for his debut album and the result is a carefully curated record that shifts from desperation to something far more hopeful and back again. “I hate to sound pretentious but if you’ve never died, then you’ve never lived,” he sings on the posi-pop ‘I’ve Made Worse Mistakes’ while the frantic ‘The Good, The Bad, The Olga’ finds celebration in having nothing left to lose.

A bulk of ‘I Care So Much That I Don’t Care At All’ is a world away from the technicolour rave that’s defined hyper-pop but there’s still a good time to be had across Glaive’s debut album, alongside a riotous sense of unpredictability. Glaive isn’t done breaking new ground just yet and there’s no telling where he takes things from here.