Singer-songwriter Dylan has found the perfect blend of pop-punk and songwriting on her debut new mixtape, The Greatest Thing I’ll Never Learn.
Following the success of her No Romeo EP released earlier in 2022 and supporting Ed Sheeran on his successful stadium tour over the summer, Dylan has risen to fame and has blown everyone away with her beautiful songwriting and incredibly catchy choruses.
Catching the world’s attention with tracks like ‘You’re Not Harry Styles’ and ‘No Romeo’, everyone was waiting for what the Suffolk-born singer was going to come out with next and it’s fair to say this new release didn’t disappoint.
The mixtape has themes of heartache, self-worth, and always looking at the glass half full even when there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Tracks like ‘Girl Of Your Dreams’ discusses drinking to forget her ex and how she can change her ways to become the girl of their dreams and ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ touches on leaving your youth behind which is an ultimate pop anthem focusing on how life is far too short to waste time.
Continuing the eight-track mixtape, ‘Blue’ is the ultimate heartbreak ballad as Dylan discusses the struggles of moving on and putting the love you have for someone else behind you whilst hoping they still love you too. “And all the messes and mistakes that we’d made, would you wanna do it over again?”. With ‘Lovestruck’ being the fourth track on the album and the halfway point is the song for everyone going back and forth in a relationship and definitely one to scream in the shower as the pop-punk track delves into the constant bouncing back when giving someone up but continuing to go back to them.
Throughout the mixtape, the idea of a toxic relationship is evident as the concept of never really being able to let someone go and them also never allowing you to move on. ‘Blisters’, track five, really highlights this and touches on how the singer has admitted to herself that she will never be able to move on and that it’s pointless continuing to hurt herself trying to when she knows the outcome. Dylan also admits that can also be the problem in a relationship in the track ‘Treat You Bad’, delving into her being emotionally unavailable and being in a relationship with someone who lets her treat them wrongly and still stays with her.
The mixtape titled track ‘The Greatest Thing’, is the pop-punk anthem we expected to hear on Dylan’s debut mixtape, once again discussing how she struggles to fall for someone when it’s the right thing to do and that she’ll never learn to let someone else in. “I should want it but I won’t commit to falling for you.”
Ending with an acoustic track, ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’, the album closer highlights Dylan’s incredible vocal ability and dynamic vocal range, proving why she is destined to be a star. It may only be early on in Dylan’s career at 23 years old but there is definitely a bright future ahead.
Words by Ellie Boyle
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