Album Review: Pretty Idea by Amber Mark
- Salvatore Guimaraes
- Mar 7
- 3 min read
By Salvatore Guimaraes
Genre: Pop/R&B
Amber Mark’s Pretty Idea takes us on a trip inside the New-York singers mind, exploring love, nostalgia, and growth through the pop-tinged corners of R&B, where smooth confections meet her tongue-in-cheek style. The 31-year old singer spent majority of her childhood traveling around the world, following her parents with their work. The countries the singer would live in (Germany, Brazil, India, and more) would aid in the curation of the otherworldly sound that the singer referred to as “Tribal R&B” during an interview for her 2017 debut, 3:33 am.
Now 9 years since her debut, her third record, “Pretty Idea” feels like a complete reversal of what once was. The best way to describe the sonics of this album, might be best to outline the year that Amber Mark had in 2025. From scoring a collaboration on Chris Lake’s recent project, or a spot as an opening act for long-time friend, Sabrina Carpenter, Mark has certainly been intrigued in taking her sound into spaces that bend the borders of R&B. Single “Let Me Love You” carries what would be easily considered the strongest—and punchiest—pop moment on the record with an opening ad-lib that feels nothing short from the Sabrina Carpenter recipe of a pop hit. There is something bold across this record, yet not necessarily, ambitious. Ambition takes risk, and I believe that to Mark, none of this feel’s like a risk; it’s boldness that speaks for itself, but does not necessarily reintroduce us to Amber Mark from her previous works (2022’s ‘3 Dimensions Deep’ and 2017’s ‘3:33am’). For instance, the soft-rock of “ooo” and lead single “Sweet Serotonin” explores drum patterns accompanied with slightly distorted vocals, creating its own unique feel in comparison to the other moments across the LP, but never quite feeling out of place. It’s enough to distinguish itself from its accompanying tracks, but never too much to stray you away from where you started. While there are plenty of moments of introspection and questioning across the record, confidence still runs high, and if anything, it is literally our introduction to the world of “Pretty Idea”. Side-A opener, “By the End of the Night” finds Amber dolled up in the mirror, getting ready for a night out with her girls not too far behind, “10 o’clock, got plans//Looking in the mirror like ‘Goddam’//Not even an ounce of ya, in my head.” It’s confidence with direction and most importantly, intention, which might just be the strongest dose of it all, and perhaps what we could all use. Following this idea, one of the records most rewarding moments falls near the end of the record, Track 11, “Doin’ Me”. It’s Amber Mark wearing her vulnerability like
armor, showing us that soft is strong, and a cheeky double-entendre for getting the job done yourself. Nonetheless, it is this very concept that is echoed throughout the entire record, it’s different mindsets that Mark tries on, each one suited to a different moment or feeling. Whether it’s crass send off’s to an ex on the slinky “By the End of the Night”, attempting to drink it away in wide-toothed grins (Don’t Remind Me) or giving in to existential nostalgia (Cherry Reds), if Amber Mark is trying to show us anything, it’s that she surely contains her multitudes. The “pretty idea” of it all is not one singular thought, but rather embracing the proposition of surrendering to change, and accepting that we are always bound to grow, especially when it’s uncomfortable to do so.
The closing title track is a woeful acoustic reflection, that is heavily stripped back, leaving us alone with Mark’s raw atmospheric vocals. We’re left with her reminiscing on returning home to a love—a rather contradictory position to take from our opener—, one perhaps that is long gone due to her own mistakes, and leaving behind her hometown of New York to spend borrowed time in Sin City. Trading reality for memory, the final moments of the track we find her returning to the same place as the track started, reflecting on coming home to the same love once more, “Your touch when I’m coming home//It’s a pretty idea”. And perhaps it’s Mark’s way of understanding that even if we find ourselves stuck, or returning back to the same places, people, or mindsets, it’s always just been a pretty idea. Sweeter in memory, and that despite our thoughts, we aren’t defined by them but rather the power of which we attribute to them.
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