Tove Lo - Estrus (2026)
Estrus is easy to understand and quite easy to enjoy while it is playing, but I do not find much reason to return to most of it. The whole album is built for immediate impact: short songs, direct hooks, dense production, very little downtime. That makes the first listen efficient, but it also means the songs often feel finished before they have developed into anything memorable.
“a lot of feelings, no solutions” works as an introduction because it states the idea of the album directly. Then “I’m your girl right?” gives me the first proper dance track, and I understand why some reviews respond strongly to it. Slant describes Estrus as Tove Lo’s most nightclub-focused record, and that is obvious very quickly. The beat is strong, the vocal is confident, the chorus does its job. But once the track ends, I do not feel much need to hear it again immediately.
“if I could I would” is more interesting because the subject matter is darker and more personal, but at just over two minutes it feels compressed rather than concise. “des fleurs x stromae” is much better. Stromae changes the rhythmic language, and for once the production gives the song a real identity rather than just making it louder or more polished. It is one of the few tracks where I immediately know what I have just heard.
“DNH” and “F.A.M.T” are where the album starts becoming repetitive for me. Both are competent club-pop songs, but they rely on attitude and production more than melody. “I’m the cake” has the same issue. I remember the line and the tone more easily than the actual song.
“The bad one” improves things because there is more ambiguity in the writing, and “die for my art with a lonely heart” is probably one of the better ideas on the album. That title alone suggests the contradiction Tove Lo is aiming for, but again, the track is barely two and a half minutes. It introduces the idea, gives me the hook, then disappears.
“are we on a break” is stronger because it has one of the clearest chorus payoffs. At 3:13, it is also one of the longest songs here, which says a lot about how compressed the album is. I would not normally think three minutes is generous, but on Estrus it almost feels expansive.
“idiot” and “roomie” bring back the fatigue. The production is still energetic, but the songs become harder to distinguish emotionally. By this point I feel like I am hearing variations on the same intensity level rather than separate songs with their own dynamics.
“source of life” closes the album with more serious thematic material, but at 2:11 it does not have enough time to become a real conclusion. It feels more like another thought than the end of an album.
The production does not help this problem. DR2 is extremely compressed, and while that gives the record constant physical impact, it also removes contrast. Everything is loud, close and immediate. After a while there is nowhere left to go.
What I like is Tove Lo herself. She still has personality, she is willing to write about uncomfortable things, and the album has more character than generic mainstream dance-pop. But personality is carrying too much of the record. The hooks are not consistently strong enough, the songs are too short to develop, and the production smooths everything into the same surface.
There are good ideas here, especially “des fleurs x stromae” and “are we on a break,” but I hear the concept and production more clearly than the songs themselves. Compact does not automatically mean focused, and here it often feels underwritten.
Genre: Electro Pop
Country: Sweden
Final Verdict: 62% (Good Album)
Yearly Ranking: 501th / 706
Highlight: are we on a break
Made me think of:
Robyn
Charli XCX
Shygirl
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