If you were wondering where to take a vacation this summer, singer-songwriter Nep has some advice — do not go to Daytona Beach.

And she would know; Nep is an indie musician from Daytona, Florida. Her debut album, Noelle, was released Friday.

Nep recently gained traction on social media through her quirky, energetic snippets of original songs, mostly from her 2024 EP Nep’s Storybook.

The new album features 12 songs that address heartbreak, attraction and insecurity. Nep delves into various genres, including pop, rock, folk and country.

But despite Nep’s versatility as an artist, her debut album falls short of being unique.

Nep draws on personal and relatable experiences in many songs on Noelle. But she opts for direct illustrative language rather than poetic descriptions, resulting in shallow and blunt lyricism.

For example, “Black Car Song” features this less-than-poetic verse: “Mom stays home on Fridays / We watch Harry Potter 4 / She forgets 1, 2, and 3 / But she watches with me / And we cry, Cedric dies, we cry more.”

This direct pop culture reference breaks the song’s immersion and feels like a cheap appeal to nostalgia.

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In “Daytona,” Nep sings, “I’m failing my classes / But I always pass ’cause I’m goddamn smart / My parents shouldn’t be proud of me / But they still are, they still are.”

This writing style is not entirely out of character for Nep — past songs such as “Milk Town / Mr. Carter” have been story-focused rather than symbolic. But while “Milk Town” was humorous and fictional, the songs on Noelle attempt to convey emotional realism with the same level of bluntness.

At the very least, her listeners will certainly know what she’s talking about.

Nep’s target audience is Gen Z to a fault. In addition to referencing pop culture in her lyrics, she mentions using a YouTube tutorial to bleach her eyebrows on the song “Scar.” Nep also uses common internet slang such as “I will talk my shit.” It’s a style reflective of Gen Z’s preferred musical sound, and songs on the album indicate the influence of artists such as Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Mitski.

Many tracks on the album feature an indie-pop style that values vibes over substance. The song “Girls On TV” has an energetic beat, but the fuzzy vocal layering and instrumentation drown out Nep’s lyrics. It results in a common pop sound indistinguishable from others in the genre.

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“Scar” takes on a more acoustic, folk-country blend. The lighter instrumentation makes Nep’s Billie-Eilish-esque singing voice much easier to understand.

But like the end of Eilish’s song “Happier Than Ever,” “Scar” unfortunately devolves into a jumble of electric guitar noise. The catchy melody disappears, leaving listeners with loud electric guitar reverb for almost a full minute while the lyric “I let it scar” repeats over and over. While the shift offers an interesting artistic parallel to the song’s themes of emotional turmoil, the ending falls flat musically.

But Nep’s musicianship is strongest when she embraces her roots in “Florida Girl,” leaning into catchy guitar melodies rather than layers of noise.

If you need a song to scream in the shower, “Daytona” is your best bet. Nep infuses this rock-style track with more emotion and anger, practically yelling the repeated line, “My future is dead.” With a strong percussion beat and electric guitar, it’s impossible not to bob your head along to this tune while thinking about the terrors of growing older.

“Florida Girl” also features an upbeat and acoustic vibe, but ends on a much cleaner note than “Scar.” This ending track contains the catchiest bridge on the album with the happily nonchalant lyrics: “So what, the damage is done / What’s wrong with having some fun? / Takes one to know one so / I’m gonna be the bitch this time.”

For listeners who prefer the pop style with thickly layered electric instrumentation, Noelle will feel like a step in the right direction for Nep’s musical journey. But for those who enjoyed Nep’s past indie folk work on Nep’s Storybook, her artistic evolution may be disappointing.