Atwood Magazine’s writers discuss Lucy Dacus’ stunningly intimate, beautifully radiant, and lyrically rich fourth album ‘Forever Is a Feeling,’ unpacking its nuanced meditations on love, time, vulnerability, and what it means to truly “make the most of it.”

Featured here are Atwood writers Bárbara Martínez Campuzano, Christine Buckley, Josh Weiner, and Mitch Mosk!

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To start, what is your relationship with Lucy Dacus’ music?

Josh Weiner: I like her as much as the next guy. I haven’t made it through her full catalogue, but I listened to some of her most recent records as well as her work with boygenius, so I can confirm that she is a talented musician and strong vocalist.

Bárbara Martínez Campuzano: I’ve listened to Lucy Dacus for quite a while now. Albums like Home Video or Historian contain songs that I listen to daily, and I especially like boygenius and the way the three artists (Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien) work together. Their album the record was one of my favorites of 2023.

Christine Buckley: I’d known of Lucy for awhile but didn’t really get into her and her music until I got into boygenius. She is such an incredible poet – she’s even said things about how she only really writes music to get her lyrics out there, not the other way around. I love how lyrically dense her songs tend to be, and how really raw they are. Her song “Afraid of Heights” from the boygenius EP “the rest” is one of my favorite songs of 2024.

Mitch Mosk: While I definitely knew about Lucy Dacus prior to boygenius, it was the release of that first boygenius EP in 2018 that put her squarely on my radar for good – and then Home Video was the first album of hers that I consciously and actively listened to in full. I guess you could call me a passive fan, in that I don’t always intentionally seek her out, but I never pause a Lucy Dacus song once it’s on – that track’s getting played all the way through.

What are your initial impressions and reactions to Forever Is a Feeling?

Bárbara: It is a good album with good production, although I think I got so used to guitars from tracks of boygenius that I slightly missed that bit of rock in this new album. I was surprised that this album is sweeter, more romantic; I feel the same Lucy Dacus we’ve known from her past three albums is still there, but the themes have transformed.

Christine: Lucy has always been a master of a slow build, and she’s done it again on Forever is a Feeling – the album itself and many of its songs, especially the closer “Lost Time.” As with all her albums though I’ve had to give it several listens to understand more of the references and metaphors, and I’m not sure I’ll ever actually understand them all. But that’s the mark of a good album – when you can hear something new each time, like a gift that keeps on giving.

Mitch: I’m not going to mince words here: I think it’s a masterpiece, a triumph, and a whole world unto itself. Not only has Dacus created an entire universe of meditations, musings, and ruminations on love – what it means to love another, what it means to be loved by another, how it feels to fall in love, and how it feels to fall out of love – but she has also done so within a recognizable sonic framework that will forever be distinct, recognizable, and associated with this album, Forever Is a Feeling. Every listen has, so far, left me with new memories and cherished moments.

For me, all thirteen of these tracks feel like intimate puzzle pieces – individual parts of a larger picture that were painted or printed, and then carved up and separated for us, the audience, to enjoy in bite-sized amounts. You have some high highs (“Ankles”), achingly raw low lows (“Talk”), and a lot of complex emotional in-betweens – those shades and hues that fill the gaps and define so much of our everyday lives. I think this record is graceful in its unfiltered, unapologetic vulnerability; Dacus fearlessly sings the quiet parts aloud, giving a real life voice to the smaller one inside our heads – the one asking questions that we don’t really want to answer. The artist clearly bled – metaphorically, symbolically, maybe even literally – to make this music; after all, how else do you get a line like, “This is bliss, this is Hell; forever is a feeling and I know it well“… You really have to sit in your pain to get there, to bring it to life, and to make it your album’s title. So for all those reasons, I’m not just grateful to have this album out in the world, but I’m especially grateful to Lucy Dacus for digging deep to create something that helps someone like me do my own digging.

How does this album compare to 2021’s Home Video – what are the most striking similarities or differences?

Bárbara: Both albums show something that Lucy Dacus does expertly: Honesty, poetic lyrics, and autobiography. This new album is more acoustic, reflecting more introspection and what could be considered more love and passion related, while Home Video was more of an indie rock album with bursts of energy and rhythm. In the new album, Lucy Dacus is a grown woman with lessons learned and things experienced, while Home Video is about her childhood or her teenage years seen in retrospection.

Mitch: I remember Home Video hitting hard, and standout songs like “Hot & Heavy” and “VBS” still resonate with me to this day, but personally, the album as a whole doesn’t have the same cohesive depth and connective tissue that I feel from Forever Is a Feeling. To be clear, every Lucy Dacus album wears its heart on its sleeve and is special for any number of reasons – I can pick out moments in No Burden and Historian that continue to resonate as well – but for whatever reason, I’ve come to understand this latest album not just as a collection of songs, but as a standalone cinematic universe of sorts. There’s a quality to Forever Is a Feeling that binds each track to its fellow songs on both a lyrical and musical level, so while “Ankles” may be a far cry from “Limerence,” which is a far cry from “Modigliani,” which is a far cry from “Talk” (note: these four songs come one after the other in the tracklisting), they all share some thematic and theatrical DNA.

Obviously Forever Is a Feeling isn’t a “concept” album by any means, and love is a pretty big umbrella, but Lucy Dacus has succeeded here in creating the sensation that when I press play on any one of these songs, I’m entering a special part of her world – a soundscape and landscape that is unique to this person, to this moment, to this music. I think this record does what many of the most celebrated albums of the past sixty-something years do best – going beyond a mere “collection of songs,” offering something bigger, conceptually or otherwise, that in so many ways feels larger than life. Real or imagined, that’s my lived experience with this LP.

Dacus teased Forever Is a Feeling with “Ankles,” “Limerence,” “Best Guess,” and “Talk.” Are these singles faithful representations of the album?

Bárbara: These songs are faithful representations of the album and they may even be among the favorites, especially “Ankles” and “Talk.” Falling in and falling out of love, but mostly being in love is the honesty that Forever Is a Feeling encapsulates. Because Lucy Dacus has confirmed she is in a relationship with Julien Baker, this love story may have just inspired a great album, teased by the loyal tracks like “Ankles” and “Best Guess.” Although “Limerence” and “Talk” could show more doubt or concern, they are meant to. Love is a complexity and Dacus demonstrates it well.

Christine: I loved “Ankles” when it came out, the low, soothing harmonies of Dacus’ voice on this one seemed to perfectly go with the hilarious music video. I’ve been told over the course of my life that I have a fact like a woman in a Renaissance painting – both in complimentary and insulting ways – so Lucy masquerading as a noblewoman which her cherubic eyes and porcelain skin made me smile real big. I hadn’t known what the word “Limerence” meant til I heard that song, but that one sure resonated as well, as did the lyrics about staying busy to avoid your feelings and pretend you’re on the right course. Sort of wish she would have released “Bullseye” as a single but that’s classic Lucy, burying the lede (the collab with Hozier).

Mitch: I’m going to say “yes” here, for all of the reasons Bárbara and Christine already mentioned above: Emotionally, musically, lyrically, these tracks helped set the scene for a bold, breathtakingly beautiful reckoning with love filled with tender orchestral nuance, soul-stirring reflections on intimacy, and shiver-inducing moments of catharsis and confession. “Best Guess” has still not left my head, months later – it’s one of my favorite tracks off the album, both as a listener and as a romantic. “Talk” is also right up there – while it’s the musical and emotional antithesis of “Best Guess” in a lot of ways, it’s so exposed, passionate, and achingly raw – which, for me, made it another instantly memorable hit.

The title track finds Dacus singing, “This is bliss, this is hell, forever is a feeling and I know it well.” What do you make of the album’s title, and what does it mean to you?

Bárbara: The album’s title is one good phrase, and it is both poetic and romantic. “Forever is a feeling” indicates that “forever” is more of sentiment, emotion, than it is regarding time. In love, people usually say “forever,” but perhaps nothing lasts forever and it implies the experience, the feeling, is worth remembering but not everlasting.

Christine: The fangirl in me likes to think it has something to do with Dacus’ girlfriend and boygenius bandmate Julien Baker because I just love their adorable story of getting together – and I wouldn’t put it past Lucy to talk frankly about how a wonderful, forever relationship can also have spots of hell. And later in the song she references a zip tie, and Julien’s got a song called “Ziptie” from Little Oblivions… but hey, don’t get me started down this rabbit hole. Suffice it to say that it seems to be about feeling that you can want to be with someone forever, but even if that changes, it can still be okay and doesn’t diminish the love you had with that person.

Mitch: Oof. What else is there to say, you know? Love is one of the best experiences a person can have, and yet it can also produce some of our most painful moments – and that’s not just falling out of love. The arguments can be more heated, more nuanced. It’s those closest to you, not strangers, who can twist the dagger in the deepest. And yet, you continue to love your people. You love them for who they are – even for their failings and their shortcomings; you don’t try to change them. You love them, and that love comes with sacrifice.

Somewhere in the rollout for this album, Dacus was quoted saying the following: “Falling in love, falling out of love. You have to destroy things in order to create things. And I did destroy a really beautiful life. You can’t actually capture forever. But I think we feel forever in moments. I don’t know how much time I’ve spent in forever, but I know I’ve visited.”

Pair that with the lyric, “This is bliss, this is hell, forever is a feeling and I know it well,” and I think you start to cobble together a sort of retrospective on the highs and lows of a lifelong journey – and that is, our relationship with love itself. The faces might change over the years – we certainly hope they don’t, but they might – but the feeling remains the same; it comes in moments, in passing waves, in fleeing, but cherished walks down memory lane. It comes when we least expect it, and leaves far too soon, and it’s something worth holding onto if you can grab ahold of it. I don’t know this for sure, but I think I see a bit of Dacus’ perspective, and not only do I get it, but I also appreciate exactly where she’s coming from and why she feels the way she does. Live a lifetime with love, and you will, too.

Which song(s) stand out for you on the album, and why?

Bárbara: “Bullseye” is a great and heartfelt collaboration with Hozier. “Ankles” and “Big Deal” are perhaps one of my favorites as well. “Ankles” is sensual, a daydreamy song that might as well come out of a movie soundtrack. The acoustic guitar in “Big Deal” could give off the same energy and dream-like ambience, along with Dacus’ soothing voice and lyrics.

Mitch: Ok, hot take – “Bullseye” is not my favorite song. I love a nice duet and I think Hozier’s presence on this record is warm and welcoming, but that’s not the song I’m left singing in my head. I mentioned the ache of “Talk” and the sweet light of “Best Guess” earlier – while I don’t usually fall headfirst (excuse the pun) for an album’s singles, those two continue to have me in a chokehold. And I’m loving it.

Christine: I like the croony elements of “Limerence,” along with its creepiness and its playing with tempo. “Bullseye” is the kind of Americana like, a swingy acoustic song that you might call country if you added a slide guitar. I listened to “Ankles” several times in a row just because I like those chugging strings at the outset, and I like the lyrical juxtaposition of wanton physicality with the domesticity of tea and the crossword.

Do you have any favorite lyrics so far? Which lines stand out?

Bárbara: The line discussed earlier from “Forever Is a Feeling,” as well as “You make me homesick for places I’ve never been before” from “Modigliani.” There are many beautiful and/or strong lyrics in the album, like in “Bullseye” with Hozier: “The answers to the questions only made more questions / I hope you’re never fully satisfied.” In a song that talks about young love nostalgia, the lyrics have a richfulness to transmit it.

Christine: From “Limerence”: “I’m just shoveling popcorn into my mouth / So I don’t say the things I’m thinking out loud.” I related to that.

Mitch: The breakdown in “Best Guess” is a tiny recognition that love is not perfection, but rather a constant work in progress – because we, ourselves, are constant works in progress. I think that’s one of the most human lines I’ve ever heard sung, and I’m so grateful to Lucy Dacus for recognizing and accepting our flaws as a part of who we all are. Hollywood-style romances don’t exist in the real world, and it’s high time we started talking about love in more realistic terms. As someone who is in love with his best friend – for nearly ten years and counting – I am fully onboard with how Dacus humanizes these larger-than-life feelings that all too easily consume us whole.

After all, it’s a small world
You may not be an angel
But you are my girl
You are my pack a day
You are my favorite place
You were my best friend before you were
My best guess at the future

Dacus closes the album with the song “Lost Time,” singing, “Nothing lasts forever but let’s see how far we get, so when it comes my turn to lose you, I’ll have made the most of it.” If this album is a meditation on love and time, what do you make of its conclusions?

Bárbara: The main conclusion of the album could be that, for love, you must be all-in, committed to the person, and committed to understanding that perhaps it’s a win, perhaps in the end it’s a loss, but it is great while it lasts. Love is risky and dangerous, and it is declared despite fear, doubt, or any difficulties.

Christine: It’s definitely that theme of being ok with wanting something to last forever because it’s so great, but also realizing in some meta way that the odds of it actually lasting forever are very low, so you allow yourself to both appreciate it as “feeling” like forever even when your rational mind says it won’t – and being ok with holding all that in your brain and your heart. A daunting task but I guess if anyone can do it, Lucy can.

Mitch: To answer that with another quote, “This is bliss, this is Hell; forever is a feeling and I know it well.” We can’t help but love – it’s in our nature, it’s a part of our DNA – and from everything she’s sung about on this record, it’s safe to say she believes it’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. That’s part one of the album’s two major takeaways; I think the second is to, as she says, make the most of it – to love unabashedly and unapologetically, to love wholeheartedly and intentionally. You can go a whole week saying “I love you” to your partner, without thinking about what those words mean. Autopilot comes easy; don’t fall into that trap. Remember what those words mean when you say them; feel their weight, feel their depth and heft. To love and be loved is a privilege, and I think through this album, Lucy Dacus recognizes just how powerful love truly is.

Where do you feel Forever Is a Feeling sits in the pantheon of Lucy Dacus’ discography?

Bárbara: It may not sit at the top of the list, but this is a watershed in Lucy Dacus’ career. While some of her top or known songs are about heartbreak or other gloomy topics (like “Nightshift”), in this album we see a changed Dacus, one that is in love or that reflects on it from a better place, and it shows in the acoustics, the lyrics, the emotion… There’s also the aftertaste of boygenius and the success from their past album, now combined with Lucy Dacus herself.

Christine: It’s hard to judge this one against the rest of Dacus’ discography because this is the only one that’s come post-boygenius-world-domination. Not that just because she has three Grammys and worldwide fame now, but more because she’s been through a huge amount between her last solo album and now – collaborative songwriting, world travel, new love, a press tour to end all press tours. In the end it’s an evolution of her sound in which you can hear her bandmates’ influence (Phoebe Bridgers on “Limerence,” Baker on “Lost Time”), or at least I flatter myself into thinking I can hear it. But she’s still her introspective self, and it’s still a Lucy Dacus album that will make me cry both sad and happy tears.

Josh: I haven’t listened to all of her music, but I’m comfortable saying this is about as good as her recent work with boygenius and all.

Mitch: All of my soapboxing on love aside, I truly think Forever Is a Feeling finds Lucy Dacus – the singer and the songwriter – at her most vulnerable, her most exposed, her most authentic, and her most expressive. I feel the emotions in these songs in a way that I seldom experience through most music, and even in the pantheon of Dacus releases – which is going on a full decade now – Forever Is a Feeling stands out for its depth, its flare, its grace, its subtlety, and its heart. I do think it’s the best Lucy Dacus album yet – as I said at the top, it’s a masterpiece, a triumph, and a whole world unto itself.

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Forever Is a Feeling

an album by Lucy Dacus