Cherry Vanilla - Crack It Open
2025 August 10 | musicInstagram post with lyric sheets - you may need them in this case
When talking about music, I sometimes sound like a poser who's trying too hard. No one's accused me of being one, but you know, brains. I say shit like "i’m a proud advocate of the 40 second banger," which sounds like even more of a joke when I'm talking about a 4 second song titled "A comprehensive breakdown of how trickle down economics works" which is not related to this album in any way that I know of. The real kicker is how I sometimes joke about being "too niche" such as when I see a game have 0 plays on Backloggd after it's reposted onto one of my feeds. I think "trying to be niche" is unfulfilling and if you really want to be into some obscure shit, you should just look for more things like what you already enjoy and see where it takes you.
Anyways, now that I'm done insulting myself, let's move onto a different topic. We'll get to the album soon. So I was scrolling TikTok (damn I thought I was done insulting myself) when I saw a recording of a live show with the song starting: Fuck 47, and fuck democracy. So if you were tuned into USA politics last year and early this year (I'm sorry), you may understand why I immediately went "oh this is great." The actual performance is what sold it of course, I can hear screaming about politics almost too easily, as evidenced by the song appearing on my feed. So after hearing that, I felt like giving the band's work a look. And then I noticed a small problem with that: the band had no digital versions of their songs. Honestly, if that hadn't changed, more power to them. Even outside the swamp that is streaming, there's value in music that can only be heard live. But hearing that they were working on an album was nice to here, art snob opinions aside. And so, not realistically being able to attend a live show, I gave the socials a follow and the wait for an album began. August 8th arrived, and finally, I had access to the full songs outside of clips.
Crack It Open is Cherry Vanilla's debut album, being 9 songs and 13 minutes long. Not quite as short as 40 seconds a piece, but we're living in reality, not quip-world. If the opening song being "Fuck 47" wasn't a clear enough clue: the album is an embodiment of feminine rage. Me being on a VIAL (bandcamp) kick lately set me up for this one. It's loud, fast, and determined to make its messages heard. There's not only anger at the... everything of politics, but also at how women are neglected. Arsenic Baby takes a systemic approach (while also giving me an incredible vocal stim), while Anti Non-Sobriety is a glimpse on a more personal scope.
Again, it's a short listen. Give it a shot if you're interested. If it's really not your thing, you'll realize pretty quickly. Otherwise, you might find yourself a fan of a band just starting to have more than a local reach.