S.MICHAUD

VALENTINE - S.MICHAUD: Album Review

Vevna Forrow

S.MICHAUD is a London-based singer-songwriter who is also a poet @syd.notes on Instagram. I first came across her work and music a few years back in 2022. Her work tends to revolve around the tragic side of falling in love, heartbreak, defeating toxicity, and having a lot of splintering female rage notes.

S.MICHAUD’s February 2026 album VALENTINE is pure dynamite. I can’t say there are any songs that I really don’t love from her releases. Her voice has a very rich, dark, echoed electricity too. It’s amazing that her earliest song work and releases overall were done just with her phone, without any studio or extensive production equipment. Out of the 11 songs, on VALENTINE, “Fire Away,” “Bad Seed,” “Too Much Too Late,” “Pilgrim,” and “Journey’s End” are in my top picks. I'll say I am not a huge fan of songs that include the mention of guns or references to them, but “Ammo” is very catchy overall—S.MICHAUD has a knack for masterful songwriting.

Some of the songs like “Life of the Party,” and “Love Letter to the Broken,” speak of “sacrifice,” and the burnout or drain that comes with “trying to be the life of the party repeatedly,” and knowing who’s fake, real, or hiding. “Fire Away” is one of my faves, really superb execution, conflicting weight of the thought of not being able to “see anyone else in the room,” and zeroed in on one other heartbeat that has sparked something within them, and wishing to see them.

My least favorite songs would be “Lead Me Out,” “Ammo,” “Et Tu Brute?,” and “Love Letter to the Broken.” I do love the meaning behind each song and the true emotion, but I love the other songs on the album so much more. “The Liar Confesses” has a cool listing structure to it, e.g., 1,2,3,4, and so forth, “8,” which goes over deception and solitude, stressing “you can’t hurt me,” and “I don’t want you to touch me.”

With relationships, friendships even, there are always going to be some sad moments or times where others aren’t together all the time, or maybe do something that upsets us. People sometimes try to fit in, and it’s a plastic face or show they’re putting on, and it doesn’t turn out well—I think we can all say that no one wants to disappoint our friends or loved ones, but it’s so important to be genuine to who you are, no matter what others' opinions may be.

The entire VALENTINE album essentially gives me the vibe of one of my all-time fave Prince Fox songs, “Positive (ft. WRENN),” which has this lyric: “put your hands on me only if I want you to,” and “see you care, but you don't.” S.MICHAUD’s album VALENTINE is one I’d imagine you’d listen to with a pint of ice cream and tears, coping with pain or overcoming a series of stormy, dark cloud days in your life. Aside from “cutting up roses,” as we heard in “Bad Seed,” I pictured a woman, for example, in the Wreck Room in Las Vegas, one of those rage rooms where they let you smash everything for stress relief.

Some relationships can be rather toxic in nature. Maybe they start with love, and over time, change, or things take an unforeseen turn, perhaps because someone is convincing at first and ends up being a completely different person. It is tough when others feel like that, or think they found true love—they struggle to push memories with that person out of their mind. People in general become fed up with being backstabbed or not feeling safe. It’s important to cut ties with people who continue to hurt us. The journey of love is not the same for everyone.

I think S.MICHAUD has a stunning vocal range, especially with songs like “High,” which is far less dark in nature and a lot of fun to listen to, a feel-good summer drive kind of love song. If you never listened to one of her collaborations with HRRTZ, which crossed over 800,000 streams this year, please do:

Her latest song releases, which are not covered in this review, were for a book, DARKENING SONG by Delphine Seddon, which we’ll discuss more in our community release shares section this June. There is a new book cover for it, so do check that out too. I also love S.MICHAUD’s 2025 underground club-like dance single, “Lazarus.” It’s a song you’ve just got to bob to, and it definitely gets 5 out of 5 from me.

Another artist I have been listening to lately that I’d totally recommend if you love S.MICHAUD’s work is WEEPING, and I thought about her music while putting S.MICHAUD’s album VALENTINE on repeat for the 20th time; both have a divine rage-style that I find to be quite beautiful—songs that entail women not putting up with the crap of hurtful men or individuals who treat women quite poorly or use nonsensical violence. Songs you can release your anger with due to being appalled by others’ actions, are always a blast to hear.

I hope S.MICHAUD launches a YouTube channel soon or puts out more of her reel visuals there. It’d be really great to see lyric and full-length music videos from her one day. While the dark, soft, and hard nature of her songs is really well done on the VALENTINE album, I think it’d be neat to hear more of her voice on summery songs as well, and almost reminiscent of An American Werewolf in Paris’ Club de la lune or more so darkwave music you could dance to, akin to what we heard a bit with “Lazarus.” I also hope that some of her much older gem songs from 5 or 6 years ago on SoundCloud will be re-released on streaming platforms one day—it’s always nice to hear how an artist’s music has evolved over the years.

Memorable Lyric from “Fire Away:”

"Centuries go by and I'm here watching"

RATING: 4.4 OUT OF 5

Remember to add songs from VALENTINE to your playlist(s) and take a look at S.MICHAUD's music out on these channels or your preferred streaming platform, find them @smichaudmusic on Instagram and elsewhere.