Gigi Perez's New Album: "At The Beach, In Every Life"

Following the breakout success of “Sailor Song”, released in the summer of 2024 and now nearing 1 billion streams, Perez has unveiled her first full-length album: a deeply personal collection of 12 original solo tracks. The self-produced project is raw and intimate, exploring themes of religion, grief, love, and faith with emotional depth and unfiltered honesty.

Rolling Stone | Caity Krone | Brittany Spanos

The self-produced and self-written album reflects Perez’s commitment to authenticity through its stripped-back production, highlighting the intricacies of her storytelling and the pain embedded in her personal history. Anchored in mesmerizing Folk and Indie sounds, each track elevates her stunning vocals while preserving the vulnerable, human core of her music.

The centerpiece of the album, “Sailor Song,” resonated widely for its breathtaking vocal delivery and emotionally charged narrative about forbidden love and inner turmoil. It grapples with the shame and conflict of loving someone in secret as Perez reflects on a past relationship and the constraints she once felt. Despite the praise and support she’s received for her vulnerability, the song reveals her lingering connection to the self she had to suppress.

The second track, “Sleeping,” dives into the pain of grief and the pressure to navigate it gracefully. With haunting, hypnotic crescendos, the song evokes a flood of memory and melancholy, carrying listeners through waves of loss and emotional isolation.

“Sugar Water” stands out as a moving tribute to Perez’s late sister, Celene. It revisits seemingly mundane childhood memories that became pivotal after her sister’s passing. Singing directly to Celene, Perez drifts back to moments when life felt simple, joyful, and untouched by tragedy. The repeated phrase “I want it back” becomes a plea and even a soft, melodic cry for a time that’s forever gone.

In “Normalcy,” Perez wrestles with the tension between self-expression and societal acceptance, reflecting on a former relationship where she longed for love without having to compromise her identity. The song captures the emotional push and pull of staying true to oneself while seeking a loving connection.

The following track, “Nothing, Absolutely” details a fleeting yet profound connection with someone who entered her life during a time of deep despair. Their presence became a source of light in her darkness, which has become a recurring metaphor throughout the album, particularly in songs tied to nighttime, a symbol of her emotional struggles.

One of the last singles released before the full album, “Chemistry”, explores a paradoxical love story. Perez sings of falling deeply for someone while guarding herself against heartbreak, toying between moving forward in trusting them or falling behind in the comfort of staying hidden, as seen through the line “the cat chases the mouse”, which reflects the inner conflict wanting to surrender completely while emotionally distancing herself in fear of abandonment.

A standout moment arrives in “Survivor’s Guilt,” where a 90-second vocal track from her late sister is featured. The sole lyric “I believe, I would be it all” is layered with melodic swells that bring both heartbreak and hope. It's a chilling, beautiful homage to her sister’s unfulfilled dreams.

Faith and spirituality, a constant in Perez’s discography are poignantly examined in “Crown”. As she wrestles with themes of regret, loss, and sorrow, Perez captures the aching realization that we as humans seem to only appreciate what we had after it's gone. The pain she feels in being robbed of time is seen in the verse, “you only say nothing, smiling while I beg” where she underscores the inner struggle of unanswered prayers, regret, and nighttime sorrow.

“Fable” continues the themes surrounding the loss of her sister as she centers the song around the clash between grief and her religious upbringing. As she's caught between rejecting and yearning for the solitude that faith provides, the singer admits she still wishes she could find peace within it. The song ends with a voicemail from her sister overlaid with the lyric, “stars blink like my sister’s eyes, I dream of eternal life”, a haunting and poetic farewell.

Shifting to another theme woven throughout the album, “Please Be Rude” reflects on the gentle stability of a past relationship, one that helped her endure life’s hardships. At the same time, the track explores her difficulty with trust and emotional openness, a theme that recurs throughout the album.

In “Twister,” Perez parallels her life with Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, yearning for a fantastical escape from the pain of her reality. The track also touches on her spiritual disillusionment, highlighting a lost connection with the higher power she once believed in.

The album closes with the title track, “At The Beach, In Every Life,” a sweeping declaration of love and survival. Here, she acknowledges the duality of life’s darkest and most beautiful moments. The beach becomes a symbol of peace and grief, love and longing, which perfectly mirror the album’s emotional landscape.