I have never really listened to Hailee Steinfeld and I’m not really a fan of pop music in general. So before I began to listen to the EP I was doubtful that I was going to like it; however, the music completely changed my mind. Half Written Story is made up of five empowering songs supposedly about Steinfeld’s public break up with Niall Horan.

The EP in general has a lot of cool beats with synthesizers and the songs are perfect post-break up songs. My favorite on the EP is the song “Wrong Direction.” This song is a bit slower, but it has a really cool meaning that differs from the rest of the EP. This song is less of a “this is all your fault” and “I hate you” song, but it is really raw. The song talks about how Steinfeld still loves her ex, but she just doesn’t love how her hurt her. This song really resonated with me because this is really more of how a break up goes. You don’t instantly get over the person, so I really liked this raw side of the EP.

My second favorite was “Your Name Hurts.” This song follows the post-breakup storyline of the entire EP and talks about how even hearing the name of the person that broke your heart is so painful. This song is super catchy and just feels like a song you would want to scream into your hairbrush. The song has a lot of beat drops which brings up the overall excitement of the song.

Steinfeld’s other songs “Man Up” and “I Love You’s” were really good. She added really cool sounds to these two songs. Steinfeld even incorporated the voices of little children in her song “Man Up” to add a comical tone and stress her ex’s childish ways. These two songs sound like your everyday pop songs that have a strong, more upbeat tune.

Another song on her EP is “End this (L.O.V.E).” This song is interesting because it used the acronym L-O-V-E to provide a completely reverse meaning of the word and describe her toxic relationship. This song has an upbeat Billie Eilish feel in the chorus paired with lots of beat drops to make this a really fun anthem for people to sing and dance to.

This EP was full of emotion and I really liked that. It was very different from the mediocre pop patterns in Steinfeld’s other music. I feel like this was the first time I have ever really heard a song from Steinfeld’s heart and I think that is what makes Half Written Story worth listening to.