Lucy Dacus’ Fourth Studio Album, Forever Is A Feeling, Encapsulates The Vulnerability and Thrill of Falling In Love 

Lucy Dacus’ fourth studio album, Forever Is A Feeling, released just in time for spring on March 28. This is the first album to come after the Richmond singer’s success in 2023 with her band boygenius. The hit boygenius album, the record, earned Dacus and her bandmates Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker six Grammy nominations and three wins, including Best Alternative Music Album, and an overwhelming wave of new fans and listeners. Coming from such a high point in her career, the anticipation for Forever Is A Feeling was at a high-pressure peak and Dacus did not disappoint.

Forever Is A Feeling encompasses the beautiful and scary feeling of falling in love with a 43-minute run time spanning across 13 tracks. Dacus, known for her strength of storytelling through lyrics, created timeless songs that explore the complexities of love. This idea can be perfectly explained in the main chorus of the title track, “This is bliss/ This is hell/ Forever is a feeling/ And I know it well”. Almost every song on the album works to intertwine the anxiety and excitement associated with love to create a very real and raw listening experience.

The album received positive reactions from the public after its release, earning impressive spots on the Billboard charts. Forever Is A Feeling peaked at No.16 on the US Billboard 200, 2 on the US Top Rock & Alternative Albums and 1 on the US Americana/Folk Albums.

As an openly queer artist, Dacus often strays away from using pronouns in her love songs to allow as many people to relate regardless of sexuality. Forever Is A Feeling is the first album in her discography to provide a gender to her muse. “Best Guess”, released as a single earlier this year in February, shocked fans with the lyric, “You may not be an angel/ But you are my girl”, sparking rumors about the subject of the song. After speculation, Dacus confirmed her relationship with fellow boygenius member, Baker, in an interview with People Magazine just weeks before the release of the full album. 

In past works, Dacus has kept the inspiration and subject of her music private, leaving the interpretation up to listeners. Receiving confirmation about who the songs were about was a unique surprise for fans. With this information, references to Baker were fused throughout the entire album, making her unmistakable as Dacus’ muse for her dreamy, renaissance-inspired romance project. 

These references make this album a new world of vulnerability for Dacus, who is best known for her interpretive melancholy sound. While all the songs, especially tracks like “Limerence” and “For Keeps,” still touch on the worry and fear of the unknown so familiar in her past works, the album overturns those feelings and accepts them as a side of love that is darker but no less beautiful.

Overall, Forever Is A Feeling is a refreshing new take from Dacus’ existential and brooding sound that fans are so familiar with. The airy sounds and romantic themes of the songs are perfect soundtracks for spring and summer or anytime the crushing and overwhelming experience of falling in love surrounds you.