Ellise is a Bewitching Dark-Pop Sensation on her Sophomore Album 'PRETTY EVIL'
- Abby Anderson
- Mar 28
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 3
Stand-out tracks: “leech" "ballerina" "bite"
Our favorites: “committed for life" "cherry on top" "runaway bride"
Release date: March 28, 2025
For fans of: Madison Beer, Melanie Martinez, MARINA
Armed with her darkest lace, an angelic voice, and a sharpened arsenal of sickly-sweet dark pop, Ellise is a bewitching force on her sophomore album, PRETTY EVIL. Her deliciously twisted fantasies have made her a fast-rising star, and Ellise has spent the last few years supporting the likes of Madison Beer and Bishop Briggs on tour as she reinvents her perfectly piercing brand of pop, the kind that dances through sugar-coated turmoil and haunting infatuation. PRETTY EVIL marks a new era for Ellise, one where she's resurrecting her dreams from nightmares of her past and sinking her teeth into reveling in her sensational virtuosity and independence as an artist.
From its opening dissonant strings, "PRETTY" is as alluring and intoxicating as the relationship Ellise sings of. Complete with haunting layered backing vocals, a cinematic piano-bass synth, and a razor-sharp knife-slice effect leading into the chorus, Ellise turns her forever into a nightmare to escape. She sings, "Happy ever after with me / But it's never really all that pretty / Dreams are dreams / The sweetest whispers turn to screams."
Ellise is spellbinding in her seductively psychotic whims as she swirls through devilishly clever production with the voice of an angel. She ensnares her lover on poppy "committed for life," worships her heartache on ethereal "cherry on top," and cracks her dangerously fragile exterior on guitar-driven "dead girl dreaming." And she throws caution into the wind across all domains on steamy "runaway bride." Driven by a pulse-quickening drum beat and blown-out vocal harmonies, she soars through lyrics like "No alibi / My lethal ride or die / Love of my life / Make any sacrifice / I'll be your runaway bride."
The album shifts through its tracklisting, straying further from pretty and sinking deeper into evil at Ellise's will. With its dark, electronic sonic atmosphere and slinky vocal runs, "bite" is strikingly addictive as it spins its tale of an intoxicating love: "To tell you the truth / I do anything that you tell me to / Don't you know that I'd die / Just to take another bite of you." The crown jewel of the record lies in tantalizingly devastating "ballerina," which examines the impossibilities of womanhood and the suffocating expectations to put on an enchanting facade.
Sealing PRETTY EVIL with a bloodstained ode to love gone wrong, Ellise rises from the ashes as queen of the darkness on album closer "EVIL." Soaring through angelic strings and her most stunning vocals of the record, Ellise sweetly floats through her woes about her own violent ends in love. Spinning mystifying questions of who's to blame for something sweet turning sour, Ellise does what she does best - feeds the addiction to her humanizing heartache and leaves a craving for more of her dark, mesmerizing allure.
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