REVIEW: Cat Burns releases her stunning EP 'Emotionally Unavailable'

The UK’s Cat Burns has become one of 2022’s most unexpected breakthrough acts. Her 2022 single ‘Go’ found a second life on TikTok late last year and has slowly climbed the UK singles charts throughout this year, with it currently sitting at number 3. With multiple remixes of the track designed to make the song personalised just for you depending on your favourite genre, the song has collectively gathered over 80 million streams to date. Today Burns releases her stunning EP Emotionally Unavailable which further consolidates her reputation as one of the UK’s most remarkable young talents.

Growing up in Streatham, South London, Burns starting writing her own songs as a teenager in high school. Not yet confident in her skills as a writer though, she began posting covers online and quickly started gathering attention and a fanbase. In 2016 she began releasing her own original music and over the following years released multiple singles which all became moderately successful on streaming platforms. Then in mid-2020 she released the single ‘Go’, a gorgeous stripped back pop ballad that honestly explores the breakdown of a relationship after one half becomes unfaithful: ‘pack up your shit and go’ Burns sings in the chorus. The song became Burns’ first single to accumulate 1 million streams, but failed to cross over into the mainstream charts.

Then at the end of 2021, Burns told Women In Pop “it just randomly had a resurgence. Young people on TikTok re-found the song and just started making videos with it.” At the beginning of 2022 it nudged into the UK singles charts at number 53, slowly moving upwards until it hit the top 3. In the process it has made Burns one of the UK’s biggest music stars of the moment and her EP one of the most hotly anticipated of the year.

Burns, who identifies as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, makes music with purpose that not only examines her own experiences but also hones in on the listener in a way that makes her music their own. “I want people to listen to my music and feel like I wrote that song directly for them,” she says. She uses gender neutral pronouns so no-one feels locked out of the emotion, and addresses important, often taboo topics frankly, honestly and with empathy and warmth.

The six tracks on the EP explore love, loss, mental health and the challenges of feeling disconnected in a world where we have never been more connected. ’Learnt To Love Goodbyes’ perhaps sums up Burns and her approach to music best. There is a gentleness, stripped back feel to the music and her vocal, but it is accompanied by a driving beat which injects the track with both life and tension. Lyrically the song honestly explore Burns experience with rejection and how that trauma has shaped her approach to adult relationships. “People coming and going but they never stay…I’m so used to people leaving I don’t cry…So if you’re going you don’t need to tell me why,” she sings. There is a heartbreak in the lyrics which is highlighted by Burns’ subtle vocal delivery. She doesn’t scream or shout her pain, it is delivered softly with a nuance and a truth that makes it even more moving.

‘Anxiety’ is, unsurprisingly, a song about mental health and how different her life could be without anxiety. The lyrics cleverly look at anxiety as a person you are in a relationship with - ‘I’m not kicking you out / But since I’ve gotten older / I kinda want to know what life’s like minus you / Why do you always get to choose when I live here too?’ Sonically, it is a guitar based track with a gentle electronic foundation and multiple vocal tracks.

‘Ghosting’ follows a similar soundscape as ‘Anxiety’ with a prominent acoustic guitar feel which builds into a full-blooded chorus. Always true to the issues that affect her generation, the song is a plea to a possible lover to allow her time to get her head in the right space without being seen as a ghoster.

‘We’re Not Kids Anymore’ is a relatable, bittersweet reflection on the friendships that seem unbreakable until you grow up and naturally drift apart until that relationship feels like it never existed: ‘friendships can last a lifetime, but then sometimes they just don’t’. “It's about the sombre feeling you get when you and your childhood friend just sort of drift apart,” she says. “Life just happens and you no longer see each other, you only can see them through pictures and memories, you can't have that same friendship you once had.” It is a gorgeous, stripped back track with a sublime vocal performance from Burns and lush backing vocals.

Closing track ‘Emotionally Unavailable’ explores the reluctance to commit to relationships, despite wanting to, due to childhood trauma. “I want to love you…so can you stay while I figure this out?” A tender ballad which has a number of beautiful tempo changes and gradually builds in more and more vocals, it is in many ways the response to EP opener ‘Go’. Burns opens the EP with the decisive end of a relationship and ends it with the desire to make an important relationship work.

Emotionally Unavailable is a journey through Cat Burns’ heart and soul and in the process she draws herself into yours. Her lyrics are at time breathtakingly honest but are also incredibly connective - she has more than succeeded in her aim of making her music sound like it was written just for you. It is a remarkable collection of music and is a treasure to listen to from beginning to end - there is warmth, emotion, heartbreak, delicious melodies, gorgeous harmonies, in fact everything that makes first class pop music. Burns may have appeared seemingly from nowhere in 2022, but she has the talent and the creativity to make a lasting impression on the global music scene. Long may her success last.

Emotionally Unavailable is out now via Since 93/Sony Music. You can buy and stream here.

To keep up with all things Cat Burns you can follow her on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter.