Nessa Barrett dives headfirst into the darker corners of romance on her third album, Tough Love, an 11-song cycle built around desire, obsession, heartbreak and the complicated ways people love and want to be loved.

Following 2024’s Aftercare and this year’s Jesus Loves a Primadonna EP, Tough Love continues Barrett’s move toward a moodier, more cinematic sound. Written across several years, from the ages of 17 to 23, the songs draw from both personal experiences and imagined romances, with Hollywood providing a fitting backdrop for stories where attraction and danger are often closely connected.

Lead single “Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die” introduces the album’s dark-romantic world, while tracks including “Dracula,” “Fetish,” “Only For You,” “Glamorous,” “Bunny,” “Candy” and “God Gave Me Expensive Taste” explore different sides of love, lust and emotional vulnerability. Closing track “Bad Girls Never Die” brings the album’s themes together with the kind of dramatic edge that has increasingly defined Barrett’s music.

Throughout the record, Barrett plays with contrasts, pairing seductive pop melodies and sleek production with lyrics that can turn vulnerable, provocative or unsettling. That tension gives Tough Love much of its personality, allowing her to move between confidence and insecurity while keeping the album tied to its central fascination with romance and desire.

With Tough Love, Nessa Barrett takes the gothic atmosphere and emotional intensity of her recent work and expands it into a full album about romance at its most intoxicating, messy and difficult. It’s music for falling hard, making bad decisions and knowing perfectly well you might do it all over again.