Describe by Hannah Jadagu
76
ChoruScore
3 reviews
Oct 24, 2025
Release Date
Sub Pop Records
Label

Hannah Jadagu's Describe arrives as a vivid, intimate collection that turns long-distance lovesickness and touring fatigue into synth-forward pop confession. Across three professional reviews, critics single out “My Love”, the title track “Describe” and “Gimme Time” as the record's emotional centerpieces, while “Couldn’t Call” and “D.I.A.A.” earn praise for their plaintive melodies and shoegaze-tinged rush.

The critical consensus positions Describe as a confident step forward from Jadagu's earlier Aperture-era work, earning a 76/100 consensus score across 3 reviews. Reviewers consistently note the album's blend of glitchy synths, drum-machine textures and reverb-soaked guitars - an exploration of sound that frames themes of intimacy and technology, geographic displacement and relational uncertainty. Paste highlights fragile FaceTime-era heartbreak in “My Love” and “Couldn’t Call”, AllMusic points to the record's inward, personal songwriting and synth-tinged intimacy, and DIY celebrates the opener's ethereal, shoegazey production that keeps the collection feeling uplifting even at its most melancholic.

While some critics draw attention to the record's quieter, colder moments as evidence of Jadagu's range, the prevailing view praises how personal lyricism pairs with inventive arrangements to produce standout tracks. For readers asking whether Describe is worth listening to, the consensus suggests a rewarding, modern space-pop album whose best songs - notably “My Love”, “Describe” and “Gimme Time” - emerge as must-listen highlights in Jadagu's growing catalog. Detailed reviews below unpack where the record shines and where its introspective edges still leave room to grow.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

My Love

3 mentions

"standout ‘My Love’ coalesces gloriously between indie pop and ‘80s goth"
DIY Magazine
2

D.I.A.A.

1 mention

"‘D.I.A.A.’ is an almost shoegazey, reverb-drenched ripper"
DIY Magazine
3

Couldn’t Call

1 mention

""Couldn’t Call," a piano-and-synth ditty"
Paste Magazine
standout ‘My Love’ coalesces gloriously between indie pop and ‘80s goth
D
DIY Magazine
about "My Love"
Read full review
3 mentions
93% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Describe

3 mentions
72
03:51
2

Gimme Time

2 mentions
75
03:52
3

More

1 mention
20
03:21
4

D.I.A.A.

1 mention
90
03:32
5

Perfect

0 mentions
01:25
6

My Love

3 mentions
100
02:44
7

Couldn't Call

0 mentions
01:33
8

Tell Me That !!!!

2 mentions
40
02:52
9

Normal Today

2 mentions
25
03:13
10

Doing Now

2 mentions
45
03:11
11

Miracles

2 mentions
15
02:35
12

Bergamont

2 mentions
10
04:00

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 4 critics who reviewed this album

Paste Magazine logo
Paste Magazine
Andy Crump
Oct 24, 2025
78

Critic's Take

Andy Crump hears Hannah Jadagu turning domestic pain into pop gold on Describe, and he singles out tracks like My Love and Couldn’t Call as the album’s most affecting moments. He lingers on the fragile, FaceTime-era heartbreak threaded through those songs, admiring how a brief piano-and-synth ditty can carry disproportionate emotional weight. Crump praises Jadagu’s shift from Aperture toward a broader electronic palette, crediting upticked confidence and tasteful synths for making the best tracks land. In short, the best songs on Describe are the ones that marry aching lyricism to nimble arrangements, with My Love and Couldn’t Call emerging as clear highlights.

Key Points

  • The best song is My Love because it makes the album’s FaceTime-era heartbreak explicit and flows into the poignant "Couldn’t Call."
  • Describe’s core strength is turning mundane lovesickness into lovely, synth-tinged songs with upgraded production and emotional clarity.

Themes

long-distance romance lovesickness touring and its costs intimacy and technology emotional confession
AllMusic logo
AllMusic
Paul Simpson
Oct 24, 2025
70

Critic's Take

Paul Simpson hears Hannah Jadagu moving inward on Describe, and he singles out intimate, synth-tinged moments as the album's strongest work. He praises My Love as the record's centerpiece, a song that "perfectly encapsulat(es) the feeling of finding the right person," and points to "Gimme Time" and the title track for their candid emotionality. The review emphasizes how tracks like More and Tell Me That !!!! use heavy drum-machine textures to dramatize hunger, while quieter numbers such as Bergamont show a colder, more melancholic side. Overall, Simpson presents the best songs on Describe as those that pair Jadagu's most personal songwriting with inventive, analog synth and drum-machine arrangements.

Key Points

  • The best song, "My Love," is the album's emotional centerpiece because it perfectly captures finding the right person.
  • Describe's core strength is merging personal, candid songwriting with inventive synths, drum machines, and experimental sound design.

Themes

longing relational uncertainty exploration of sound geographic displacement personal songwriting
DIY Magazine logo
DIY Magazine
Brad Sked
Oct 22, 2025
80

Critic's Take

Hannah Jadagu's Describe reads like a triumphant second act, the opener Describe ferrying you across an ethereal, glitch-filled realm and setting an expansive tone. The reviewer's ear lingers on the mellifluous melancholy of Gimme Time and the reverb-drenched, shoegazey rush of D.I.A.A., while My Love is praised as a glorious coalescence of indie pop and '80s goth. Even at its most brooding, the album feels continuously uplifting, with songs like Doing Now delivering joyous, psych-tinged jangle. Overall, the critic frames the record as colossally dynamic pop, brimming with solid songwriting and expansive production, making clear which tracks stand out as the best on Describe.

Key Points

  • The best song is the opener Describe because it sets an entrancing, expansive tone with glitchy space-synth atmosphere.
  • The album's core strengths are its expansive production and melodic songwriting that balance melancholy and uplifting, colossally dynamic pop.

Themes

space-pop nostalgia melancholy vs uplifting glitchy synths shoegaze influences