Brooklyn emcee Miss Eaves mad a big splash back in 2017, when she released her album Feminasty, featuring the hit, “Thunder Thighs.” She followed that up with the ME AF EP last summer, along with a couple of singles. Now she comes back with another EP, Sad.

While both of the previous releases were produced by KEISHH, Miss Eaves turns to producer Rich Matthews to help with the three songs on Sad. While both are good producers, it does help shake up Miss Eaves style just a little to work with Matthews, whose EDM/Dancehall-influenced production kind of forces Eaves to switch up her flow, even if it’s just a little bit. Fortunately, that’s all it really takes for Eaves to sound fresh, since while I didn’t want her to repeat herself, I also didn’t want her to lose her identity and lose the fan base she’d worked so hard to cultivate. It’s a delicate balance, but she finds it on sad. While there’s new musical energy to a song like “Exposure Kills,” her cutting social observations as an artistic Black woman in Brooklyn are still front and center, as she makes the case to be paid what she’s worth for her art – you can’t eat exposure. She also gives a dance anthem treatment to staying in with “Homebody,” and brings some punk energy to “Left Swipe Left,” which understandably gives voice to frustration of online dating.

It’s short and to the point, but Sad also marks a first step forward to the next phase of Miss Eaves’ career. There’s a new energy and expansion of sound that hint at a lot more possibilities going forward, all without sacrificing the personality that caught our attention in the first place.