EP Review: "FINE!" - colby!
- Kaitlyn Nicole
- Jun 16
- 5 min read
Breakout alt. pop artist, colby! has released her sophomore EP, "FINE!", an emotionally and aesthetically colorful project with unfiltered songwriting and a self assured attitude.
TRACKLIST
Fine
Out of Sight
To Each Their Own
Monster (feat. Shaya Zamora)
For The Record
You
colby! grew up in Fort Worth, Texas where she always had a creative itch, starting with painting and building furniture for her dolls. Crafting and creating was a way for her to cope with her severe dyslexia which she was diagnosed with at the age of 8. Through her creative nature, she found out she had a talent for songwriting and singing, which also really helped her through her intense dyslexia therapy. At the age of 14 is when she really started to take making music seriously, and began collaborating with her older brother, RJ Johnson, a Berklee College of Music alumni who is also a producer and multi-instrumentalist. After a handful of years, colby! finally debuted her first single last year (2024) titled "Don't Know What To Say", as well as her first EP, "Dead Giveaway". This year, she managed to reach over one million streams on Spotify alone with her collaborative single "Monster" which features Shaya Zamora, really making a huge surge in her fanbase. Now, she's already ready to release her second EP, "FINE!", which is inspired by the retro aesthetic and colorful palate of Olivia Newton-John’s musical, Xanadu. colby! describes this EP as having an unpredictable, one-of-a-kind sound. I can't wait to hear what she has in store; let's dive in!
Fine
Starting with the title track, we have the hauntingly catchy alt. pop bop, "Fine". This song is about confronting someone who is refusing to open up about how they really feel. You can tell that they are not okay, but they continue to lie and smile through their tears anyway. All you want is for them to let you in, but no matter how many times you let them know that they don't have to be alone, they won't give in. "Fine" has a super dark tone and mood with an eerie synth and hard electric guitar, giving the song a little edge. colby! sings with frustration and heavy emotion. "Fine" perfectly sets the unique twist to alt. pop that colby! has in store for the rest of her project.
Out of Sight
Next, we have "Out of Sight", a super addictive song about not being able to get a past love out of your head. You find yourself seeing things everywhere that remind you of them; from guys who wear the same type of clothes and have the same hairstyle, to the car he drives parked on the street outside your workplace. It's almost enough to drive someone insane. How are you supposed to get over someone when the ghost of them is following you everywhere you go? "Out of Sight" has a super heavy and catchy beat that feels dancehall influenced. It's almost impossible not to move and groove to. The bright, sparkling acoustic guitar pairs greatly with the rhythm and beat while colby! sings an ear-worm chorus that'll most definitely get stuck in your head.
To Each Their Own
"To Each Their Own" is a really deep, symbolic song with poetic lyricism about struggling with identity and feeling stuck in life. There's themes of wanting to escape to other sceneries and experiment different lifestyles out of pure exhaustion from the unending stress of life and having to put on a happy face. It's extra tiring when you have to pretend to be someone you're not just to make it in this society, leading to a complete identity crisis at the end of the day. colby!'s vocals and the lyrics are really emphasized in this song. She sings with energy and dramatization, making sure she gets her point across. The style of the song itself was giving me nostalgic RnB vibes with a modern alt. pop twist that is uniquely colby!.
Monster (feat. Shaya Zamora)
Next, we have colby!'s super breakout single and collaboration track, "Monster", which features fellow indie artist, Shaya Zamora. "Monster" is about two people in a relationship who are super toxic for each other and they know it; yet, they refuse to let each other go. They put in no effort to make their relationship positive or healthy; they just go in circles, slowly driving each other insane. Will it ever end? "Monster" obviously has the spooky vibes that you expect a title like that to have, and it delivers it perfectly. colby! and Shaya's voices blend so well over the dark and danceable beat, almost like it was a collaboration that was destined to be.
"One day, I got a text from Shaya Zamora with a little audio file and a message that just said, 'Hey, what do you think about this song idea?' It was just a verse and chorus idea, but I loved it right away. I took it to my brother and producer, RJ, and from there, we started messing around with it—sending it back and forth with Shaya. The whole process actually came together pretty quickly. The song was a bit different from what I had written before, both lyrically and sonically, so it was really fun to explore and bring it to life. And I’m so glad Shaya featured on it—I think what we ended up with is really special.
Monster is about two people stuck in a toxic relationship. They don’t bring out the best in each other, and they know it, but for some reason, they can’t let go—or even try to become better for one another." -colby!
For The Record
"For The Record" is the newest, unheard track on the EP about reflecting on the aftermath of a bad breakup. The dust has settled, but the painful words that were said are still lingering, and you won't let them be forgotten. You want to put it all on record with permanent receipts of the damage they've done. There's a part of you that wishes you could say it to their face and let them really have it. "For The Record" is super upbeat despite it's melancholic emotion. It has vibrating synths and down-strummed guitar, giving it a little bit of an 80's ode.
You
Last but not least, we have "You". This song is about being in that type of relationship that changes you into someone different, and not in the good way. Your partner starts to shape you into another version of themselves, and if you try to express your true feelings about anything, they snap at you - so you keep quiet. You start to become distant from your loved ones, and they even start to notice that you're not the same. You become trapped in this cycle of control, and now you don't know how to get yourself back. "You" has a soft, emotional soundscape with an acoustic tone that gently builds throughout the duration of the song. colby! sings her heart out as she tells this tragic story that unfortunately many can relate to.
There isn't a single track on this EP that sounds the same, but yet at the same time, it's all cohesively colby!. Each story grasps you from every which way; from the lyrics, to the soundscape, to colby!'s unique and stunning voice. When you listen to colby!, you immediately think she has to be a famous popstar with a sound and talent like this. The underrated nature of her music is baffling for sure, but I have this feeling that soon, everyone is going to know who colby! is. Her music is catchy, relatable, and something that hasn't been heard before. I can't wait to hear what she does next! Make sure to follow colby! below to keep up on her incredible journey.
Written By Kaitlyn Nicole
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