“I’ve Got Me”

A Joanna Sternberg song is like your messiest internal monologue put to the page—raw and self-aware, warring honestly between betterment and pessimism. On 2019’s Then I Try Some More, the New York singer-songwriter sang frankly about addiction, depression, and loneliness, situating themself in the lineage of the Moldy Peaches and Daniel Johnston and winning a tour invite from Conor Oberst. Now they’re returning with a second album, the Matt Sweeney–produced I’ve Got Me. With only an acoustic guitar, double bass, and the winding curves of Sternberg’s voice, the title track “I've Got Me” has the immediacy and warmth of a living room performance, letting the songwriter’s matter-of-fact lyricism shine as they sit with their neuroses. “Between self hatred and self awareness/Is a very small thin line,” they sing, as candid and conversational as ever. “I waste so much time, I mean it,” they add, “So much time.” By the track’s climax, Sternberg moves from a whisper to a bellow, announcing a plan to set their own self-deprecation aflame; it feels like they’re finding their confidence in real time.