{"id":101,"date":"2025-03-08T00:26:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T00:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/?p=101"},"modified":"2026-06-15T01:02:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T01:02:55","slug":"album-review-saya-by-saya-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/08\/album-review-saya-by-saya-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: SAYA by Saya Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ambition tagged along with a prospective creative project is often short-lived. I, for one, have roughly a half-dozen sketchbooks filled a third of the way full, twenty books on my shelf that I have never read and a hundred songs that have been learned and subsequently forgotten on guitar. Prior to the release of her debut album SAYA<\/em>, Japanese Canadian musician Saya Gray was similarly frustrated with her lack of creative cohesion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Saya Gray\u2019s 2025 release, SAYA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gray\u2019s\u00a0previous\u00a0releases oozed charm\u00a0despite\u00a0their lack of polish.\u00a0Her 2022 project\u00a019 MASTERS<\/em>\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0dissimilar to an unfilled sketchbook, an untouched bookshelf or an array of loose melodies hanging in the air.\u00a0The project (dutifully not referred to as an album by Gray herself) is a collection of voice memos, with certain tracks such as \u201cSEEDLESS FRUITS (OF MY LABOUR)\u201d being created when Gray was just 14 years old.\u00a0While there is merit in taking a shot with your experiments, eventually shots are labeled as one of two things: hits and misfires.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023 the Toronto-based musician went where most do in pursuit of creative refinement and clearer headspace: the road. SAYA<\/em>\u2019s inception began like a typical singer-songwriter album; it was written in a van with only a guitar while Gray was traveling through her mother\u2019s home country of Japan. Gray took the scraps of what the record could be with her to a studio in California, where they received an art-pop blow out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gray impresses with her ability to balance her maturing musicality with her immature charm. She approaches each track with both a familiar bite and a calculated message. The opening track \u201c..THIS IS WHY ( I DON\u2019T SPRING 4 LOVE )\u201d is a prime example of this; Gray chops her voice around the track, trying out different inflections like a kid fidgeting with different toys. Gray welcomes springtime with an emphatic claim that she will NOT fall in love. Meanwhile, bells, whistles (and what sounds like bubbles popping) skitter across a thick bassline and slick guitar chords.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following cut \u201cSHELL ( OF A MAN )\u201d is another massive triumph for Gray both musically and vulnerably. A catchy guitar lick that makes you wonder \u201cHow did no one else come up with this before?\u201d leads the way for Gray to flex her songwriting muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Call you out, call me rude, and I\u2019ll show you, If you don\u2019t like me now, you\u2019re gonna hate me later<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The lyrics create a sharp image of Gray as a partner; she can be prickly and tepid. However, other lines such as \u201cI\u2019ve lasted this long as a rubber ball, you pick me up and throw me up against the wall\u201d provides justification to Gray\u2019s attitude.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such is the narrative purpose of SAYA: justification for actions, insight into Gray\u2019s imaginative world, and a giant sign that reads \u201cI COULDN\u2019T CARE LESS WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME!\u201d The question \u201cSince when is there two opinions to every decision?\u201d is posed in the interlude \u201cCATS CRADLE!\u201d, which Gray seeks to answer throughout the rest of the album. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Gray may not care how she is perceived, she still lays all her cards on the table in moments of honest introspection. My personal favorite track on\u00a0SAYA<\/em>\u00a0is \u201cPUDDLE\u00a0( OF\u00a0ME )”, the emotional\u00a0low point\u00a0of the album. The instrumental is stripped of all the frill\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0present on other tracks, making way for an intoxicating drum loop and skilled guitar work. Gray refutes the way she has been treated in\u00a0a previous\u00a0bond while still allowing the person an opportunity to come back if they want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

You know\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a puddle of me at your feet, isn\u2019t that what you needed of me?\u00a0You know how obsessed I can get, with your needle and thread pulling in out of me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While there are some other highlights on the record like \u201c10 WAYS ( TO LOSE A CROWN )\u201d and \u201cLIE DOWN..\u201d, there are multiple moments where it feels that Gray has sacrificed complete tracks for the sake of cohesion. This has created a peculiar dynamic where the album is at its best when listened to in its entirety but has multiple songs that don\u2019t do enough to make their way out of the context of the record.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Gray\u2019s previous releases felt more like a melting pot where ingredients are tossed in with no rhyme or reason, SAYA<\/em> is more akin to the eclectic menu of a fine-dining restaurant. The type of restaurants that are just as much visual experiences as they are for your tastebuds. While the whole meal ends up being delicious, the portions are too small, and diners are left hungry for more. As I listened to SAYA<\/em> more and more, I felt inclined to return to her previous releases and watch all her live performances. Gray is one of the most talented and exciting pop artists in the world, and I already can\u2019t wait to see what she does next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ambition tagged along with a prospective creative project is often short-lived. I, for one, have roughly a half-dozen sketchbooks filled a third of the way full, twenty books on my shelf that I have never read and a hundred songs that have been learned and subsequently forgotten on guitar. Prior to the release of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[17,18,12,11,13,14,15,16],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-17","tag-album","tag-album-review","tag-music","tag-music-review","tag-review","tag-saya-gray","tag-singer-songwriter","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-14-at-7.42.36-PM-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-14-at-7.42.36-PM-600x600.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Riley Watkins","author_link":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/author\/rileywatkins\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107,"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coverchargeblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}