Album Review: Ella Eyre – everything in time

Ella Eyre has always felt like someone who could talk you into pathways that you wouldn’t have necessarily have chosen… but also made you feel grateful for doing it. So it felt fitting when Everything, In Time (released on her label Earwulf) dropped with a reflective title and grown-up cover art — signalling something more serious was due. Returning from a short recording hiatus as more than just a singer – a storyteller – this album looks to an honest evolution for the artist. and the kind of emotional weight that demands a full track-by-track exploration… so let’s dive right in.

Kicking off with title track Everything, in Time, we are straight into a very soulful, Motown feel to the beat, instrumentation and vocals – a lot ell made track and a fantastic opener, swiftly followed by Head in the Ground which continues the same vibe but with a more modern feel to the acoustics and an introspective, critical set of lyrics (with Tiggs Da Author adding some vocals) – in an inferior track to track one IMO. High on the Internet up next, running a critique of people’s dependence on socials and ‘swiping right’, while Domino Szn is the second track on the album – with a great laid back beat and has a very top down cruising in the car vibe to it – good track! Diamonds follows, in one of many vocals which chastise Ella’s inability to find the right guy… this being one of the stronger tracks I’d class in that category, which sadly cannot be said for Red Flags & Love Hearts and This Shit Hurts which are both slower (and sadly inferior) tracks covering the same broad ‘failed love’ topic. Kintsugi had a different vibe to the track, feeling like Zero7 in its arrangement – probably my favourite track on the album, despite it being about being with someone (though this one was clearly a positive experience… as was the track itself).

Ain’t No Love That Blind sees a return to the ‘failed love’ lyric set, in quite a mid/pointless track which (personally) wouldn’t have been missed if it was omitted from the track listing. Another one in the failing/dysfunctional relationship category – What About Me is decent enough, focusing on how she doesn’t put herself first, while Little Things is a decent track, which lyrically looks at finding the minutia that keeps you going in bad times. Hell Yeah is another track which feels like it’s a track added to an album to fill time – extremely skippable, as is Loverman – more than anything else due to it being about the primary topic of the album – bad men choices/advances. Penultimate track Space was also not for me, and wouldn’t have been missed if it wasn’t here – charty pop, but will never be released as a single as it’s just not good, and we end with another track about a challenging boyfriend – Rain in Heaven – Demo which if there were two tracks of this ilk I’d probably have liked it, but by this point I have ‘shit relationship choices’ fatigue.

I’ve been waiting a decade for this album, and the word I would use to describe Everything, In Time would be ‘egocentric’ – it’s all about Ella, and mostly Ella’s substandard choice in men/no good men that try it on with her. There are a few good tracks on the album, and I’ll be adding Kintsugi to my 2025 favourites, but I cannot express how underwhelmed I am with this album – I had huge hopes for this artist who I love vocally, but as a composing/songwriting artist her track composition and lack of lyrical diversity was disappointed  – though I do hope she’s found the right guy, at least.

Graeme R