Jehnny Beth You Heartbreaker, You
Jehnny Beth's You Heartbreaker, You arrives as a bruising statement of pain and resilience, a record that turns psychosexual angst and raw confrontation into combustible catharsis. Critics point repeatedly to the opener “Broken Rib” as the album's keystone - jagged, immediate and designed to make you howl - while songs like “Reality” and “Out Of My Reach” trade intimacy for full-throated release and deceptive melodic payoff.
Across four professional reviews the critical consensus scores the record at 74.75/100, with reviewers praising its primal energy, industrial punch and emotional brutality. Pitchfork and Clash highlight how abrasive noise sits beside honeyed choruses, Kerrang! celebrates the unvarnished sexual confrontation of tracks such as “No Good For People”, and The Line of Best Fit flags “Obsession” and “High Resolution Sadness” for their kinetic fury. Critics consistently note themes of trauma and survival, digital dislocation and loneliness threaded through performance energy and anger, making the best songs on You Heartbreaker, You the ones that balance menace with melodic reward.
While reviewers largely admire Beth's control and reinvention, some find the album's relentlessness taxing - its refusal of respite is both the record's power and its limitation. The consensus suggests that You Heartbreaker, You is worth hearing for its standout tracks and uncompromising voice, a fiercely modern post-punk statement that stakes a claim in Beth's catalogue and leaves a lasting sting.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Broken Rib
4 mentions
"a tense, discordant beast of a track"— Kerrang!
Out Of My Reach
3 mentions
"Out Of My Reach is simultaneously dense and straightforward"— Kerrang!
High Resolution Sadness
2 mentions
"‘High Resolution Sadness’ which is paced like a panic attack, driven by a janky, anger-filled drum sound."— Clash Music
a tense, discordant beast of a track
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Broken Rib
No Good For People
Obsession
Out Of My Reach
I Still Believe
Reality
Stop Me Now
High Resolution Sadness
I See Your Pain
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 6 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Jehnny Beth keeps her claws out on You Heartbreaker, You, a record that revels in psychosexual angst while turning discomfort into thrill. The review zeroes in on songs like “Broken Rib” and “Out Of My Reach” as focal points - the former for its jagged, distorted vocal prowling and the latter for a deceptively beautiful, Deftones-ish chorus. Beth’s control and menace make tracks such as “Reality” and “Stop Me Now” feel intentionally transgressive, pleasures that unsettle as much as they seduce. Overall, the best tracks on You Heartbreaker, You are those that balance abrasive noise with melodic payoff, the songs that let her howl and then draw you back in with a honeyed, sinister chorus.
Key Points
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The best song is anchored by a blend of distorted vocal prowling and feedback that makes it both haunting and visceral.
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The album’s core strengths are its fusion of post-punk/industrial textures with frank explorations of power, desire, and performance energy.
Themes
mu
Critic's Take
In this review Jehnny Beth returns with a record that is, above all, primal: confrontational, sexual and unvarnished. The best songs on You Heartbreaker, You are immediate - opener “Broken Rib” rips with acute pain and grit, while “No Good For People” and “Obsession” extend that harsh maximalism into twisted, strange terrain. Emma Wilkes hears an artist who staggers forwards and refuses compromise, and those three tracks most vividly prove why they are the best tracks on the album.
Key Points
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Opener “Broken Rib” is the best song because it channels acute pain into a tense, discordant beast of a performance.
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The album’s core strengths are its primal, confrontational energy and unvarnished, fearless delivery.
Themes
Critic's Take
Jehnny Beth returns with You Heartbreaker, You, an album where the best songs - notably “Broken Rib” and “Reality” - trade intimacy for full-throated release. The reviewer's prose is direct and evocative, pointing to “Broken Rib” as a track that makes you want to scream and “Reality” as the record's disillusioned centre, glass shattering into fury. Other highlights such as “No Good For People” and “High Resolution Sadness” are praised for their industrial punch and panic-drive, making them among the best tracks on You Heartbreaker, You. Overall the album's purity of voice and contagious frustration make these tracks stand out as the record's emotional core.
Key Points
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“Broken Rib” is best for its raw urge to scream and its lyrical tie to the album’s anger.
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The album’s core strengths are Beth’s pure, confronting voice and the record’s controlled, cathartic anger.
Themes
Critic's Take
Jehnny Beth returns on You Heartbreaker, You with that bruising clarity that made her name, and the best songs - notably “Broken Rib” and “Obsession” - stake the album’s emotional claim. The opener “Broken Rib” sets the tone with a physical, unflinching metaphor and immediate defiance, while “Obsession” is a standout for its collision of guitar and vocal aggression. Elsewhere “High Resolution Sadness” channels modern fury into kinetic release, and the closer “I See Your Pain” sums up the record’s wary, distanced compassion. The album’s relentlessness is both its strength and its risk, delivering catharsis at the expense of respite.
Key Points
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The best song, notably "Broken Rib", sets the visceral, defiant tone and crystallizes the album’s themes of trauma and survival.
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The album’s core strengths are its unflinching emotional clarity, abrasive catharsis, and stylistic amalgam that prioritizes truth over comfort.