By Helena Karlstrom, Contributor
[Grand Jury Music; 2022]
Rating: 7/10

Samia Finnerty is an up-and-coming alternative singer/songwriter who specializes in expressing feelings like yearning, pain, and loneliness. After releasing a few singles in 2017, Samia debuted her first album, The Baby, in 2020. She recorded an EP, titled Scout, as well as covers of songs by When in Rome and The Magnetic Fields the following year.

On September 27, Samia released her long-awaited single, “Kill Her Freak Out” (KHFO). The single release was accompanied by a music video featuring Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges, along with the announcement of her second album, Honey, to be released in 2023.

Read more: Album Review: Alex G – God Save the Animals

Samia’s discography tells her story of frustration with men, being scorned by friends, losing herself, and her love for her friends and family. This is all included in the experience of womanhood, growing up, and coping with loss that people can relate to. To put it plainly, she is a storyteller. She masterfully weaves a scene full of emotion, religious imagery, missed opportunities, and yearning. This song is one story of many about Samia’s experiences with losing love, putting self-worth in others, and never being about to be fully honest with those around her. She cannot express her true feelings without fear of killing someone and exploding.

KHFO is a poetic homage to the people who feel forgotten. The song starts out with soft organ tones, reminiscent of a wedding procession. Samia dreams of herself in that situation, but she passively lets somebody else live it. She blatantly tells her story, watching her life and the people she loves move forward around and without her. She is physically present but so caught up in her anxieties and fear of being outcast that she cannot function.

Samia’s voice cuts through the mellow organ like a knife. The lyrics “I’ve never been this bad, can I tell you something? / I’ve never felt so unworthy of loving” emphasize her personal struggle with mental health and expression of self-image.

This song gave me a personal revelation of feeling disillusioned with life and love. Samia can feel close to the people around her but cannot stop them from moving away and that is a feeling I can relate with. No matter how hard she tries she cannot control others’ perceptions of her or her own feelings about that. She calls for self-destructive behaviors so she can freak out and feel something. She must sit by and watch other people be happy because she is too scared to speak for herself. KHFO is about suppressing your feelings about someone to the point that you burst. It is a cathartic release from struggling with conflicting emotions for so long.

By the end of the song, Samia does not resolve any of these feelings. As the music swells, Samia chooses to end the song with a reflective instrumental break. Ultimately, the point the song is trying to make is that if you look at all the things you’re missing out on, you overlook the love already around you, never really satisfied.

KHFO is a great standalone track, but also a perfect single to transition into Samia’s second album release.

Listen here: