January 17, 2026 - Photo of girl on beach. Glittering star-covered bikini. Heart-shaped sunglasses gaze into laptop, turned off. Headphones plugged into nothing. Captioned #engagement.
There is something uncanny about Nectarine Girl's glossy online presence. Perhaps this is because she makes it impossible for you to disassociate from the unspoken rules of her being seen. You, the voyeur, complicit, commanded, cannot get off scot free. Photo of girl, obscured. Promoting a song about being prepared for consumption. Buried by the algorithm, she addresses the camera directly. "Better?"
Becoming a begrudged participant in your own exhibition is the crux of Good Excuses For Laziness, an album four years in the making, written and produced by Nectarine Girl's Lia Rosenblatt with co-production, mixing, and mastering from her partner and long-time collaborator Thea Minster. Plainly, it's gorgeous. Sparkling, shimmering, artifacted, a photo of a computer screen. A landing page at the base of an ASCII waterfall.
"I'm in the room," Rosenblatt starts "beauty is blinding". But being in the room is not enough. In promotional photos Rosenblatt poses as a housewife, vaccuming and doing dishes in six inch heels, equipped with a portable CD player. The home is overgrown with flowers of all kinds-- a beautiful, overwhelming, nearly suffocating feminine presence. My body, posed for you. In everyday life Rosenblatt is a florist. Subversion of feminine roles/appearances/constant digital presence. Contrast of so very alive with this dead cold thing. - Humor is sometimes the best way to get to the heart of things. So much aesthetically here is reliant on superficiality but somehow that gives way to reality more. Every song is so close to the heart
"devour me" music video: even with her head on a platter, she doesn't stop smiling.
In videos she cites this album as being written during the worst years of her life.
Where do we go from here?
The songs that close the album offer an answer. "I guess, I guess" zooms the camera out, steady and sparkling. It narrates, from Rosenblatt's partner's perspective, 30 minutes where she belived Rosenblatt had died from an overdose. The floor is pulled out; the house of mirrors falls away. "Sewing", the album's final song, plays like a mindfulness exercise. 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can feel. A tenuous connection to reality held together by someone you love, and who loves you, wholly, completely. "I want to start the conversation of the consequences for punishing yourself," says Rosenblatt.
Fitting, then, that the only song I could categorize as "joyous" on this record is "i know you didn't go to bed", a sapphic . There is a man in this story but he blurs into the background
Beauty is blinding - being objectified in the workplace— ideas not seen as valuable. I have a great idea !!!! She screams, cheeky pick me reference Devour me - objectification, for sale to eat, tiny breaths and gasps in the background, pointing out the slice of my ass genius Pretty like water - Written after dinner with an ex and his model exes.. banjo so beautiful I know you didn’t go to bed - the one joyous song on the album is about female gaze instead of male lololol Seeing me in your eyes - uneven steps underscore story of loving being loved/seen, but being unable to reciprocate How I’ve always been - “dissonance of being deeply loved while feeling emotionally unreachable” angry like a man Before photo - am I a before photo !!!! Brilliant. Am I not good enough as I am? Is there a future version of me I should be aiming for? Drawl of lyrics leans sexy in the verses. “Says she’s happy with how she is but still changes” the end is euphoric and frantic How long - how long will this feeling keep me warm !! Today - piano interlude Aubergine - “what’s my next line?” Empty, cold, digital reflections like butterflies and the breeze Yeah right there, just one more, again - “petal covered room / fresh cut grass and engine fumes” pain becomes an object of beauty “slap stained cheek, blistered heels” I guess, I guess - “I want to start the conversation of the consequences for punishing yourself,” written after a 30 minute period where her partner thought she had died. Holding on to life through someone that loves you Tomorrow - another interlude goes into sewing Sewing - feels like a continuation of I guess I guess? Tenuous connection to reality held on by the person you love… sounds kind of like a mindfulness exercise. 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 you can feel.
There is no plausible deniability here. Online closer to the idea of a girl than the real thing