Hanna is by no means a newcomer to the game, as she has been in the industry for a number of years now. Throughout her career, her talent has been acknowledged by critics and fans alike. Her ability to create songs that carry meaningful messaging while still delivering a quality product has seen her stock rise in the game.
It has been said that artists need time and space to create, and Hanna is an example of that. She made her debut in 2020 with an album titled The Girl In The Durag, and she waited four long years before making a return to the music scene. Despite her long hiatus, her comeback to music was a welcomed one with the release of her EP titled Guilt Free.
She opens the EP with the song ‘Props’. The song is a beautiful intro to the EP because it speaks of the new changes that Hanna has made in her life. She touches on the fact that she has given her heart to someone new and how that new addition to her life has impacted her life positively. She also touches on a personal challenge she has been battling with – people-pleasing, which is a central theme to the EP.
She continues to narrate the changes she has made in her life on the song ‘Guilt Free’. The song sees her express how she has opened herself up to being the truest version of herself. An artist’s pursuit of a musical career can be daunting. Often artists have to balance the pursuit of their dreams with the stability that comes with pursuing a more conventional career. That balancing act can lead to an artist experiencing a level of anxiety that can be crippling. For that reason, Hanna expressing how she is pursuing her career free of any guilt is an important moment on the EP.
For those who may not be familiar with Hanna, she is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community. The song ‘Pride’ carries a dual meaning. The first meaning speaks to her pride in her identity. The other meaning is about how her previous lovers carried too much pride, which led to the demise of their relationship. Hanna took the ending of her relationship to heart as she talked about how difficult it was for her to move on from that failed relationship. Despite this, she still wishes her partner well but acknowledges that she has taken learnings away from the end of that relationship.
On a lighter note, we swiftly continue to a song titled ‘Metropolis’. The song sees Hanna paint a picture of herself driving around the fictional city of Metropolis. In her car ride, she lets us into her reflections of everything she has spoken about on the EP leading up to this moment. The song ‘Metropolis’ sees her discuss how she has been too much of a ‘nice guy’, which has led to her taking a number of blows in both romantic and platonic relationships in her life. She also touches on how far she has come in her personal development and self-acceptance, as well as how she will scrutinise the people that she welcomes into her life.
That brings us to the final song on the EP, ‘All I Need’. The song is structured in a way that it resembles an acceptance speech for an award. She goes on to list all of the positive attributes and contributions that a special individual has made in her life. The twist comes at the end of the song, where she reveals that the person she is talking about is herself.
Overall, the EP is well curated from both a sonic and lyrical point of view. The EP is concise but still packed with meaningful lyrics that are personal enough for the listener to understand Hanna without being overly personal to the point where the listener can’t relate to what she is talking about.