On his 2022 album, surrounded by hounds and serpents, B.C. sad-rap savant Powfu dropped hints that he was ready to step out from his blackened-bedroom milieu and fully seize the spotlight. After all, nothing announces your crowd-baiting ambitions quite like a full-blown pop-punk remake of Taylor Swift’s old country nugget “Mine”. But with this five-song status update, he retreats back to the comforts of cataloguing his discomfort with social interaction. The sequel to 2021’s tell me your feelings and i won’t tell you mine wields a familiar formula of chill beats and soul-crushing lyrics, but it’s also a document of Powfu’s growing prowess as a cinematic storyteller. Coloured by high-school hallway sound effects, the folk-hop lullaby “life in a locker” packs all the drama of a binge-worthy teen TV series into less than three minutes, presenting a loner’s lament of being trapped in a world where ”all the cool kids are wide receivers.” But as much as Powfu’s songwriting will strike a raw nerve with anyone who’s ever been bullied or had their heart broken, his melodies are always easy on the ears, and the hazy hooks of “keep our love alive” and yearning chorus of “the view from my bathroom window” make for essential additions to his growing catalogue of emo earworms.