SuziWithAnUzi — Baby Teeth

Ontario: Top 10 of 2021

by Daniel McIntosh

On the cover of Baby Teeth, SuziWithAnUzi appears as the victim of a violent crime. Blood splays across the all-white background, while her eyes roll back, half-opened. The image belies the sweet sentiments and mysticism within the album, revealing another welcome layer behind the horrorcore imagery and heavy beats. Far from simple emo, Baby Teeth sees Suzi calls upon the stars (“I’m a Cancer, Babe”) in sorting out the tea leaves of love and relationships. When the album dips into pop-punk (“Rental”) and R&B (“DND”), she reveals a significant range and a soft centre behind the bared fangs. 

Bo Burnham’s transcendent comedy special isn’t the only great piece of COVID-adjacent art titled Inside released this year. The indie-rock quintet’s latest opens and closes with the sounds of the 7pm clanging pots and pans that once heralded the essential workers, and many of the tracks find them grappling with introspective thoughts while trapped in a room – being stuck inside one’s own head being an even worse fate than the physical boundaries.