Margø Confronts Her Darkest Demons on ‘Who Are You When You’re Alone?’

Canadian artist margø developed an early love for rock music growing up listening to artists like Joan Jett and Blondie and now, on her debut album who are you when you’re alone? she takes their influences and combines it with the sounds of industrial pop artists like Melanie Martinez and Ashnikko to set a spooky tone that sees her confronting her most intrusive thoughts.

Margo’s new album finds its inspiration from battling inner demons, untangling anxieties and even the frightening sleep paralysis she’s experienced in her life, making it an incredibly personal (and dark) collection of songs.

The album begins with the deliciously brooding ‘Crawl’, which sees Margo confronting her mental health issues — “Got some paranoia casting shadows in my brain” — while professing her love, saying “I’ll crawl in your head, love you til you’re dead.” The track definitely feels like a fusion of Martinez and Ashnikko with its clever, witty lyrics and dark production paired with a sweet almost nursery rhyme delivery.

‘Breaking Up With Me’ sees Margo in the throes of a depressive episode, struggling to get out of bed and playfully revealing that her serotonin is ‘ghosting’ her. Rather than the title may suggest on a more typical pop album, ‘Breaking Up With Me’ describes an internal struggle rather than the end of a serious romance relationship. As Margo vents her frustrations about her own personality, she’s entirely vulnerable and relatable, especially to anyone who’s ever felt like they weren’t good enough.

With ‘Marionette’, Margo opens up with a Joker and Harley Quinn reference to describe a highly toxic relationship, adding “It’s hard to love a villain who sees love as competition,” to keep things from cliche. Margo’s vivid lyrics on the verses and bridge here are exceptionally strong, even if the chorus is a bit repetitive in compensation.

‘Guts’ is an infectious electronic/rock mash up. Again, Margo’s voice, production and delivery harken to Melanie Martinez but darker and more twisted — there’s no cutesy doll imagery to be found in Margo’s works. Unless that doll were to be Chucky, of course.

On ‘R.I.P’, Margo gets as close to the mainstream as she feels comfortable, and the song has clearly resonated with audiences currently sitting at over 1.2 million streams on Spotify. ‘R.I.P.’ features a delicious beat that you’d have to be dead not to tap your toes along to. “Should let this die, but I’m weak / Wrapped around your finger, even though you’re dead to me,” she says with perfect delivery — half creepy and half dark femme fatale.

Margo’s ‘Pity Party’ is a scathing criticism of a self-absorbed loser playing the victim. “God, it must be nice to be so cruel / All you ever think about is you,” Margo croons before telling them she hopes no one goes to their pity party. If anything, ‘Pity Party’ presents Margo as an almost antithesis of Melanie Martinez — despite the similarities the two artists have (even down to both of them having a song named ‘Pity Party’ on their debut albums…) Margo’s song is a condemnation of these feelings of melancholy, whereas Melanie celebrates them on her track.

‘Love Me Ugly’ continues Margo’s trend of vivid lyrics that paint a story, and the song’s creepy production feels reminiscent of one of Ashnikko‘s ‘Halloweenie’ tracks. “Tried to kill my confidence to resurrect a different me,” Margo cries on the track, conjuring up images of violence, gore and sacrifice while pleading to be loved as she is and not as a “mannequin” that can be changed as one pleases.

who are you when you’re alone? comes to a close with Margo’s newest track, ‘Stranger’ that comes complete with a nightmare-inducing music video. As Margo crawls around as her own sleep paralysis demon, she is even more vulnerable than she was on ‘Breaking Up With Me’. Her vocal delivery here is astonishingly raw, and lines like “I know we bleed the same red, how could I know you at all?” feel especially powerful knowing Margo’s struggles with sleep paralysis.

Overall, who are you when you’re alone? is a cohesive album that brings together a collection of Margo’s music unified by the themes of her inner demons and darkest times. At times, it is comfortably electronic and at other times it verges on mainstream pop — while other songs take a total departure and lean into the nightmare and creepiness. Throughout all these sonic experiments Margo performs, she remains a master of her own vision — even if it is a dark and twisted one.

who are you when you’re alone? is now available on all streaming platforms.