Kelsey Lu So Help Me God
Kelsey Lu's So Help Me God arrives as a vividly restless record that frames heartbreak, faith and self-reclamation with audacious orchestral touch. Across the album's cinematic span the critics identify a core of standout tracks - notably “Running To Pain”, “Reaper” and “American Sonnet” - that crystallize its tension
Reaper is the best song for its cinematic sweep, length, and spiritual poeticism.
The album’s core strength is Lu’s emotive vocal performances paired with rhythmic production, though classical swells sometimes overwhelm melodies.
Best for listeners looking for grief and spiritual questioning, starting with Running To Pain and Reaper.
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Full consensus notes
Kelsey Lu's So Help Me God arrives as a vividly restless record that frames heartbreak, faith and self-reclamation with audacious orchestral touch. Across the album's cinematic span the critics identify a core of standout tracks - notably “Running To Pain”, “Reaper” and “American Sonnet” - that crystallize its tension between ruin and repair while showcasing Lu's arresting vocal temperament.
The critical consensus, drawn from 6 professional reviews, awards the record an 82.5/100 consensus score and emphasizes recurring themes of rebuilding after loss, dreamlike arrangements and experimental chamber folk. Reviewers consistently praise percussive propulsion and subtle production choices when they push songs into emotional release: “Running To Pain” is widely noted as the propulsive, confessional centerpiece; “Reaper” receives repeated attention for its sprawling, psychedelic cinema and Kamasi Washington sax lines; “American Sonnet” is singled out as bleak yet dance-ready, marrying mournful cello to club rhythms. Critics also point to orchestral swells and jazz-soul fusion as both the album's strength and occasional constraint, with some arrangements overpowering melodies even as others reveal new emotional contours.
While most reviews celebrate the record's imaginative reinvention and healing-through-art narrative, a few critics find moments of imbalance - citing one or two lopsided tracks where classical flourishes smother hooks - which keeps the reception admirably nuanced. Taken together, the professional reviews frame So Help Me God as a daring, often beautiful reckoning in Kelsey Lu's catalog that rewards repeated listening and stands as a bold statement of transformation.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Running To Pain
6 mentions
"Tiny explosions of synths pop and fizz in the background as Lu’s warbling voice loops"— Paste Magazine
Reaper
5 mentions
"a woozy bed of Washington’s sax and Gordon’s guitar lulls us into an uneasy, slippery dreamworld"— Paste Magazine
Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost
5 mentions
"On the album’s monumental closer, “Cutting Off the Head of a Ghost,” triumphant bass saunters into a confetti burst"— Pitchfork
Tiny explosions of synths pop and fizz in the background as Lu’s warbling voice loops
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Reaper
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire
What Can I Do
Running To Pain
Comfort
American Sonnet
852
Only The Lonely
Better Than That
Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 6 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Kelsey Lu's So Help Me God feels like an act of self-possession, and the best tracks crystallize that recovery. The opener “Reaper” is dreamy and cinematic, eight-and-a-half minutes of lament and swelling saxophone that marks it among the best songs on So Help Me God. Equally among the best tracks is “Running To Pain”, the album’s most uplifting moment, building into joyous crescendos that marry electronics and acoustics. The duet-tinged “Better Than That” adds introspective counterpoint, Sampha’s interludes deepening the album’s emotional core. These highlights demonstrate why So Help Me God is a stunning, life-affirming creative peak for Lu.
Key Points
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Reaper is the best song for its cinematic sweep, length, and spiritual poeticism.
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The album’s core strengths are vivid orchestration, arresting vocal performances, and emotional cohesion.
Themes
Critic's Take
In her restless, cinematic way, Kelsey Lu gives us So Help Me God as a study in contradiction, where the best tracks - “Reaper”, “American Sonnet” and “Running To Pain” - crystallize the album's tensions between pain and healing. The reviewer's prose lingers on the nearly nine-minute spell of “Reaper”, calling it a trippy odyssey that drifts into a woozy dreamworld while Washington's sax and Gordon's guitar lull the listener. “American Sonnet” is framed as the album's gem, bleak and club-ready at once, its mournful cello giving way to a four-on-the-floor pulse. And on “Running To Pain” Lu continues to interrogate hurt with propulsive synths and a warbling voice, making these the best songs on So Help Me God by dint of their emotional and sonic ambition.
Key Points
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Reaper is the best song because it is described as a spellbinding, nearly nine-minute odyssey that lulls the listener into a dreamworld.
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The album's core strength is its cinematic collisions of texture and genre, using Lu's chameleonic voice to navigate pain and healing.
Themes
Critic's Take
Kelsey Lu frames So Help Me God as a break-up record that paradoxically feels decisive and dynamic, and the best tracks underline that transformation. The suite-like opener “Reaper” announces Lu in full flight with psychedelic lounge and Kamasi Washington’s sax, while the plaintive “American Sonnet” is especially powerful as a sparse, atmospheric piano piece. The banging single “Running To Pain” recalls Blood with big synths and beats, giving the album its most visceral moments.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener “Reaper” because it announces Lu’s renewed ambition and features striking collaborations.
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The album’s core strengths are its emotional candour, genre-blurring arrangements, and Lu’s reclaimed creative freedom.
Themes
Critic's Take
In his measured, observant voice Alexis Petridis presents Kelsey Lu’s So Help Me God as an album of strange, beautiful shifts where the best tracks - notably “Reaper” and “Comfort” - crystallize Lu’s vision. He lingers on “Reaper” as a perfect example, praising how its soft-focus pop-soul gives way to peculiar interludes that return the song altered yet intact. The Antonoff-assisted “Comfort” and similarly produced “Running To Pain” are highlighted for melodies that shine through abstract arrangements, underlining why listeners ask which are the best songs on So Help Me God. Even when he flags “Better Than That” as the lone misstep, the tone remains admiring, making clear the album’s weirdness is worn lightly and rewarding repeated listens.
Key Points
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Reaper is best for exemplifying the album’s blend of soft-focus pop-soul and peculiar structural shifts.
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The album’s core strengths are subtle production, memorable melodies, and a light-handed embrace of weirdness.
Themes
Critic's Take
Kelsey Lu’s So Help Me God feels like a monumental, searching record where the best songs - notably “Running To Pain” and “Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost” - crystallize its central tensions of longing and repair. The review’s voice lingers on Lu’s orchestral ambition and emotive candor, treating “Running To Pain” as a chunky, confessional centerpiece and the closer as a triumphant exhalation. There is also rapture in “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire”, a wild, Venusian flow that carries the album’s passion and tragedy. Overall, the critic casts these tracks as the emotional peaks that answer the question of the best songs on So Help Me God while anchoring the record’s exploration of pain and revelation.
Key Points
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“Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost” is best for turning heartbreak into triumphant release.
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The album’s core strengths are orchestral arrangements and candid exploration of pain and self-discovery.
Themes
Critic's Take
Kelsey Lu’s So Help Me God finds its best tracks where percussive energy propels emotional release, making the best songs on So Help Me God like “Better Than That” and “Cutting Off The Head Of A Ghost” stand out. Pelingen’s voice admires how the buzzy grooves and breakbeats push Lu’s fervent reckoning, noting that while the classical swells sometimes smother melodies, the percussive-driven moments reward the listener. The review reads as a triumph that is lopsided but impactful, arguing the best tracks on the album are those that marry rhythm with Lu’s expressive vocals. The result is a record that doesn’t need a God to confront heartache, it needs taut production and rhythm to make those moments land.
Key Points
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Percussive-driven tracks like "Better Than That" deliver the album’s strongest emotional payoff.
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The album’s core strength is Lu’s emotive vocal performances paired with rhythmic production, though classical swells sometimes overwhelm melodies.