Story / Stella Arizona
Photos / Christina Bryson
Ella Collier has spent years building momentum through singles, sync placements, and a growing fanbase that hosts Zoom calls in her honor. Vanity Fair and The New York Times have fawned over her; she opened for Meg Smith and Grant Knoche in Los Angeles and debuted a song live on CBS News, plus her track “DON’T FOLLOW ME” was co-signed by Lizzo. All of that was the runway to her debut album, “DANGEROUS.” Though not necessarily Freudian in its inception, the album does explore the intricate dance between the animalistic ID and the rationality of the Ego.
The album is quietly fearsome and even aggressive, with certain track titles evoking a sharper edge that reflects its name and overarching themes. Songs like “FIEND,” with its dark synth pulse, “ICE QUEEN,” built on heavy drops, and “17,” with its restless, driving melody, reflect the gritty, shadowed aesthetic Ella has made her own. It balances contemporary pop clarity with darker synth-driven atmospheres.
Two songs anchor the album’s emotional core. “ANIMAL,” inspired by a tarot card of the same name, begins as a reflective piano ballad before expanding into a larger-than-life pop anthem about embracing dangerous instincts that can be self-destructive yet formative, carrying both risk and hard-won experience.
“NAKED” follows as the point where Ella removes any remaining distance between herself and the listener. The song traces the lifecycle of a difficult romance, touching on openness, old wounds, past assault, and the fractured blueprints that once shaped her understanding of love. Rather than relying on ambiguity, she turns outward with full clarity, arriving at the statement, “You have now seen all of me.”
“DANGEROUS” lives up to its title. Though Ella never ceases to be catchy and sometimes even upbeat, she manages to also make the album convey a sense of strange, foreboding tension at times. A slight hint of oppressive cyberpunk ambience is palpable even as she goes full-on groovy.
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