TikTok song artist Madilyn Mei brings a sense of whimsy and circus-inspired sounds to the experience of growing up and finding oneself in her new album, “A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1.”

With twelve songs, totaling around 40 minutes of music, Mei begins with “My Only Sense of Purpose.” Lending to the theme of a circus, the song starts with instruments billowing like an overture to a musical, and an audience can be heard chanting Mei’s name. The song itself feels very bouncy and upbeat, but a closer look at the lyrics shows that this is about feeling like the world is moving too fast and not wanting to be left behind. The line “gonna burn out, they’re gonna replace me, replicate, AI generate me,” tells the listeners exactly what they can expect from the rest of this album.

The next three songs follow this upbeat music but with darker lyrics. “One Man Circus” starts with a toy piano, invoking a very childlike feel to accompany the lyrics about feeling on top of everything in life. The cockiness from Mei’s vocals at the beginning makes the listener feel like she does have everything together and deserves this confidence. The song then breaks down and becomes somber as Mei realizes that while she is doing all of this work and feeling on top of the world, she is still stressed. The line “I’m the puppeteer and yet the puppet still” encapsulates the feeling of the whole song.

The next song, “Can of Worms,” shows the full breakdown that started in the previous song. While not a full crash-out, the music box-like aesthetic of the song lends to the theme of thinking about the looming threat of death. 

“What’s Going On?!” already made its rounds on TikTok earlier this year before the full album was released. Many animators on the social media platform flocked to the story of an alien trying to pilot a human disguise and put their own spin on the visuals. In the context of the album, the song plays on a type of imposter syndrome. This can be felt in the constant change of pitch from the vocals, feeling out of place, and very alien-like.

The descent continues with “Quarters,” a song about life at twenty years old. Mei sings about being excited about what’s to come, yet still wanting to return to her younger days, when she would buy gumballs at the mall. The only instruments, a faint piano and ukulele, bring home the nostalgic feel that Mei is trying to convey with this song.

The next six songs play out about the same as “Quarters.” The songs feel like they are reiterating what the other songs have conveyed, only with more somber tones, completely ditching the circus theme of the earlier songs. The only standout is “Speak of the Devil,” a song in which Mei wishes she could have met her grandparents when they were young, to try to change their minds about gay people.

Madilyn Mei’s “A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1” encapsulates the feeling of growing up and discovering oneself. While the circus aesthetic drops midway through the album, it is swiftly brought back in “Intermission (Adieu Until Part 2).” Mei begs listeners to come back for part two with bouncy music to entice.

“A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1” was released Sept. 12.