Lucy Dacus’ newest album, Forever Is A Feeling, was released on March 28 following its highly-anticipated announcement in January, which was accompanied by two lead singles, “Limerence” and “Ankles.” Both the album itself and its world tour, which began on April 16, command reverence because they are reverent—to presence, to art, and to love.
The music video for “Ankles” sets the stage for the various motifs and feelings throughout Forever Is A Feeling. In the video, Dacus is discovered in a museum in Paris wearing a voluminous gown; evidently, she has just stumbled out of a Renaissance-era painting. The next three minutes follow Dacus anachronistically roaming the streets of modern-day Paris alongside a museum attendant, toeing the line of subtle romantic tension to the lyrics, “What if we don’t touch? What if we only talk about what we want and cannot have?” The story concludes with Dacus’s re-entry into the painting, and we are left wondering what, if anything, was real. While lighthearted and playful, this video represents the entire album as simultaneously intimate and classic, identifying itself as a bridge between music and visual art.
Unlike the endearingly naive noble she portrays in the “Ankles” video, Dacus is by no means new to the world of music. At 30 years old, the “Night Shift” singer’s solo discography boasts four albums and one EP created over the past nine years. However, she is best known for her membership in the supergroup boygenius with fellow sad-girl-indie-rock icons Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. Since the band’s formation in 2018, these three women have released two EPs and one album (titled the record, incidentally), earning three Grammys in 2024 and amassing a fanbase largely made up of young, queer women. Through their songwriting and performances, the trio epitomizes the incredible value of platonic love, although two of its members, Dacus and Baker, have recently announced that they are in a committed relationship with each other—a relationship that catalyzed the creation of Forever Is A Feeling.
Naturally, the first impression of an album is always determined by its cover. In the case of Forever Is A Feeling, the record displays an oil-on-canvas portrait by Will St. John that is reminiscent of the Renaissance era. Against a backdrop of gold framing and heavenly clouds, the painting reveals Dacus wearing a loose gold drape with the album title tattooed across her chest. The impression this cover offers is that the music accompanying it would be ethereal, expressive, and romantic—all of which prove to be accurate.
These qualities have been especially highlighted by Dacus’ live performances on the Forever Is A Feeling tour. Aligning with the emphasis on art, the MGM Music Hall stage resembled a gallery on April 20 and 21 for her concerts in Boston, the latter of which I was lucky enough to attend. Dacus has shared in interviews that much of her writing for this album was done walking through museums. That environment was reflected in the elaborate set design, with a dark red background holding six large golden frames in which unique artworks would change and correspond to each song performed.
Before Dacus took the stage, the show hosted two openers, jasmine.4.t and Katie Gavin. jasmine.4.t performed songs from her new boygenius-produced album, You Are The Morning, which is a tender exploration of her experiences as a trans woman and the process of learning how to love and be loved amidst trauma. Katie Gavin, a member of the band MUNA, rallied the crowd with her witty humor and pop-adjacent songs from her first solo album, What A Relief. Whether or not the audience was familiar with both of these openers, the sense of community and solidarity within such a heavily-queer space—reflected in the performers’ identities—was palpable and distinctly meaningful at a time in which LGBTQ+ rights are being globally attacked.
Around 9:00 p.m., Dacus emerged from the golden-framed doorway in the center of the stage to the high-pitched violin of “Calliope Prelude,” an instrumental first track referencing the Greek Muse of epic poetry and eloquence.
Singing the lyric, “It’s bittersweet to see you again,” Dacus welcomed the audience to her first solo tour since 2022 with “Hot & Heavy,” a song on her 2021 album, Home Video. She then delved into her new album’s primary themes of romance and temporality, interspersing the album’s breakup songs—”For Keeps,” “Talk,” and “Bullseye (with Hozier)”— throughout the setlist. “For Keeps” and “Bullseye” (the latter duetted by Katie Gavin, who hilariously wore a beard to play Hozier’s part) are gentle reflections on relationships that are deeply valuable and worthwhile even though they did not work out in the end, while “Talk” sonically switches back-and-forth from intense buildup to meager pauses and questions, perhaps reflecting the volatile nature of the relationship it chronicles.
These retrospections on prior relationships were dominated by the album’s many songs outpouring a reverence for steadfast love, specifically for her current partner, Julien Baker. “Most Wanted Man” contains instrumentals reflecting Baker’s Memphis roots while Dacus sweetly sings, “I just want to make you happy, will you let me spend a lifetime trying?” Similarly, “Best Guess” acknowledges the inevitability of change but trusts that Baker will be there to experience the future with her. Although her work has never overtly shied from representing queer relationships, this song is the first in which Dacus uses female pronouns when referring to the object of her affection, saying, “You may not be an angel, but you are my girl.”
Beyond romantic love, Dacus performed “Modigliani,” which is about her friendship with Phoebe Bridgers. It is also the most overtly artistic song on the album, as its title references an Italian painter whose work is displayed at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, where Dacus wrote the song; the lyrics, “Modigliani, melancholy, got me long in the face,” reference the elongated, gaunt faces characteristic of Modigliani’s portraits. “Lost Time” and “Forever Is A Feeling” also transcend her singular relational experiences, combining the irrevocable influence of the past and the obscure hope of the future that encapsulate the themes of this album.
After her encore, the crowd began to disperse, expressing awe and reverence and, of course, parasocial connections to the artist who left our collective presence as quickly as she had arrived. Yet, the impact of her art remains.
In a world rife with situationships and social media performativity, Forever Is A Feeling offers a glimpse into intimacy and introspection on both current and former loves that often seem out of reach. Likewise, in a world that devalues authenticity for the sake of airbrushed perfection, Dacus invites us to genuinely appreciate human creativity in all its forms.
Admittedly, I walked through Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in the process of writing this article, and it made me understand the ways in which Dacus is distinctly present in this album. Being in a museum environment conditions you to pay attention, move beyond external noise, and place yourself in the medium a few feet in front of you, and through that presence, you gain a greater understanding of your own opinions and ideas. In the lyrics and live renditions of Forever Is A Feeling, Dacus applies this experience and pays attention to the minute details of being in love, which are often the ones that can feel the most significant.
Aspen Hunter
Subaru-driving, matcha-drinking, concert-going Floridian who seems like she’d be from Oregon.
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