Catie Turner is Still Figuring it Out on 'Comedy & Tragedy: Act 2'
Catie Turner is still battling her demons, but this time she knows them a bit better than before. The follow-up to Comedy & Tragedy: Act 1, Comedy & Tragedy: Act 2 is a gorgeous display of growth and self-awareness as a young woman comes of age, experiencing all the anger, self-doubt, self-victimization, and yearning that comes with it. Turner seemingly documents this entire experience in real-time, the push-and-pull of the tracklist contributing to the authenticity of the spectrum of emotions Turner feels throughout the EP’s nineteen-minute run. She keeps you on your toes as she opens her diary, spilling her guts to any listener who lends an ear.
The project kicks off with “Exist,” an anthemic tune in which Turner’s vocals soar as she deftly navigates her range, a pulsating guitar acting as support before drums begin to drive the tune forward. Then, suddenly, everything is silent. It’s a panic attack in real-time, or perhaps the desire to “get better” but unsure of what that might mean, and daunted by the work that “getting better” calls for. Turner cries out, “I wanna be alive / But want a reset of what it means to me,” before all-too-relatably cowering once more, “It’d all be better if I fell asleep awhile.”
Turner’s candidness continues on “I Don’t Know,” a largely acoustic, stripped-down track where she croons about Catholic guilt and “the sin of being selfish,” the fears from childhood that haunt her as the instrumental gives Turner room for her thoughts up until the outro, where a cacophony representing the too-muchness breaks out à la Sarah Kinsley.
Childhood seems to be a recurrent theme as the following track, “Empty,” quite literally sounds like an existential crisis in your childhood bedroom. While “Empty” has a darker, edgier sound to it, Turner’s vulnerability remains intact as she admits “I’m an anemic, a former bulimic.” She is forthright about her yearning to feel nothing at all, exhausted by feeling so much of everything all the time. It’s a feeling that takes us back to when we were little, when everything felt like the biggest thing that could possibly happen, though it somehow seems more manageable when our moms are still picking out our outfits. Less so when everyone around you expects an adult.
“Someone That I’m Afraid Of” is Turner’s angriest track, and the most impressive. We are living in an era where young women are freely expressing their resentment (and thank god!) – Olivia Rodrigo doesn’t “get along with anyone” and Turner is ready to “trade in kindness for kerosene.” The biting track chronicles Turner’s angst surrounding being a pushover and her desire to be the villain for once, but then realizing it’s just not who she is. Still, that doesn’t mean she can’t be pissed about it.
“Drunk” is honest and devastating. Turner is self-loathing, struggling with the slippery slope of codependence whether that be with a substance or a relationship. Turner admits to her cowardice, ultimately succumbing to unhealthy coping mechanisms, as she softly sings, “If I drink enough, I can open up.”
Finally, on the concluding tune of the project, Turner takes it back to basics with the lullaby-esque “What If.” She is painfully self-aware, questioning whether or not she really is the villain in her own story. Introspective and filled with self-doubt, Turner is still wondering, quite simply, “What if?” Though she never finishes her thought, the question is quite clear.
Comedy & Tragedy: Act 2 is a masterful portrayal of a young woman still figuring it all out, including her own struggles with her mental health and the pain of being self-aware. Listen to Comedy & Tragedy: Act 2 below.