E^ST I'm Doing It

Six years since releasing her first EP, E^st—Melisa Bester—found inspiration for her debut album by way of a well-trodden but no less moving experience: heartbreak. I’M DOING IT follows the South African-born Australian singer as she stumbles through the mental and emotional phases that naturally occur when a long-term relationship ends. First, the feeling of deep loss and incompleteness: “We both lived under the flight path watching the people fly past, but then you moved away and now I watch the planes by myself,” she sings on “FLIGHT PATH”, a jubilant-sounding synth-pop track that feels far brighter than the lyrics would suggest. Self-blame comes next (the song title, “MAYBE IT’S ME”, says it all), and self-deprecation: “You don’t find me charming like before/I was lovely, now I’m just a bore,” she sings on the solemn, tender piano ballad “I’M NOT FUNNY ANYMORE”. As the clouds begin to clear, she bonds with a friend also experiencing a breakup, singing “I’m so glad that you’re sad as well” over a bouncy hip-hop beat on “NO ONE WITH YOU”. From there, Bester starts finding joy in the world around her, spends nights out late on sweaty dance floors and, finally, finds peace in rediscovering herself: “I’d always think about you, I’d always think about us/I never thought about me, but now I’m all about me,” she sings on the beautifully understated album closer and title track. E^st’s warm pop melodies are bright, catchy and refined, while her lyrics are almost startling in their straightforwardness—it only serves to make I’M DOING IT that much more intimate and relatable.