Royal & The Serpent has created a discography full of experimental, humorous, and deeply personal tracks that have quickly made her one of the breakout stars you NEED to keep an eye on. Her third EP ‘IF I DIED WOULD ANYONE CARE’ is her most cohesive body of work yet, that hears her diving into the punk-rock soundscape she’s recently steered towards with ‘GO PHUCK URSELF’, ‘phuck u’, and ‘IM NOT SORRY’.
Not holding back in the slightest, this collection is angsty, cathartic, empowering and vulnerable. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions that is fuelled by the high octane energy of the big guitar riffs, heavy drums and scream worthy lyrics that each song embodies. Opening the EP with ‘BETTER’, she immediately details her battle with depression with some of the most honest lyrics she’s ever written. “I haven’t washed my hair in two weeks. Been getting mental health texts from my friends to check if I’m alright. They never show this shit in movies” she sings during the opening moments of the song. As she guides through all of the dark emotions clouding her mind, she finds a power inside of herself to scream “I can do better, I can be better than this”. It’s this sentiment that lays the ground work for the rest of the EP as she acknowledges she wants to be better and no longer wants to battling these feelings alone.
Steering into the heartbreak state of mind, she acknowledges on ‘PHUCKBOI REJECTS’ how her type is narcissistic toxic guys who un-ironically shop at Hot Topic. She lays it all out on the table and doesn’t hold back from serving you multiple gold lines that sees her circling back to this constant cycle of bad dating by declaring; “Fuckboys, stand up. I’m ready for another onе”. It paves the way for my favourite moment of the EP ‘THAT SUX’ which is a nostalgic 2000’s pop-punk anthem. The energy is infectious with it’s powerful message of “well this suck, but I’m going to move on and love myself now”, and if you’re also currently going through a breakup then you NEED to have this on repeat with me. “You got me fucked up. This is just my shit luck. You don’t want me? That sucks” she sings before proclaiming “While you’re in love with someone else, I’ll fall in love with mysеlf”. Continuing that theme ‘I DONT EVEN LIKE YOU’ is the next step in grief with high octane anger exclaiming “Oh my god, I don’t even like you. What the hell, I just had a breakthrough” which is a stage we all dream of getting to. ‘ALT B!TCH POSER’ then circles back to her mental health battles with not feeling like she’s enough before closing out the EP with the unapologetic ‘IM NOT SORRY’. Both of these songs hear her experimenting with a slightly distorted production as she invokes a different level of emotion.
Every chorus on this EP is infectiously written with an earworm hook you’ll not just want to, but NEED to, experience in the middle of a mosh pit as you cathartically scream all your problems away. The energy behind the EP is undeniable, as is the strong songwriting, heavy emotion and powerhouse vocals. This is Royal & The Serpent’s strongest body of work yet, and lays the foundations for an exciting and huge year ahead of them.