“No one ever told me I could just be me/No one ever said to live your life free,” Frankie Simone sings on the title track of her brand-new debut EP, Love//Warrior. “If you’re gonna talk the talk, then you’d better walk the walk.”
The Puerto Rican pop sensation and semi-recent Portland transplant’s first release is glossy, radio-ready dance pop that never sounds sterile or over-produced. Instead, its five tracks stay grounded with booming rhythms, rallying hand-claps, and impassioned battle cries. Opening track “War Paint” speaks to Simone’s own experience of liberating herself from fear and insecurity, while “Blow My Mind” is an ode to her wife and backup dancer Che Che Luna. The EP’s standout is “Queer,” which contains the uncomplicated refrain, “It’s okay to be queer and proud.”