The first track quickly capitalizes on those more trap-y vibes that I mentioned. Starting with some kind of trippy production and a name drop, "Dreamer" quickly moves onto an extremely bass-heavy and completely fire chorus. Featuring Starrah and Raye, both of these artists have a verse following the first hook. Though Starrah's flow sounds better, Raye is more pleasant to listen to and overall I like her part more. The outro is a little bit long-winded but the production is awesome the whole time. I really enjoy this song but my biggest complaint about it is that it doesn't quite work great as an opener, as none of the other songs are really this hip-hop inspired.
"3AM (Pull Up)" has nice production, again, with heavy synths some good vocal cuts. Charli's voice sounds a bit strained at the chorus, a feature that I found a bit strange, but it still sounds okay. The lyrics are a bit strange, with "I got to pull up, pull up, right to your love". MØ comes in to do the bridge, but she contrast sharply to Charli. She seems rather nonchalant, which her lyrics reflect, and then on the third chorus, the whole tone of the song changes, as Charli moves from loving the person in the song to hating them. I really like this shift, especially how fierce she sounds.
"Blame It On You" is considerably weaker than the previous tracks. The first track without a feature, Charli decides to rap herself, which sounds a lot weirder than it did in past instances such as "Vroom Vroom". It's also rather annoying how she says "yuh" instead of "you" and "truh" instead of "true"; I know it's just her accent and I'm nitpicking, but it's a real turn off. The production is pretty average overall, really falling apart at the end of the album with out of place, light synths, and a really weird vocal sample of "bad boy make a bad girl".
"Roll With Me" picks up the slack. It's the closest thing to anything from Vroom Vroom, as the name coincidentally implies. It's also the only song produced by SOPHIE on the album, the producer of the EP. The production just amps up nonstop as more and more layers are added. The chorus is so catchy until it finally drops off, just leaving some very industrial sounding sawtooth synths. When the vocals do come back, everything just feels so much sweeter as the song goes on. The outro is long but the production in this whole song is just so phenomenal. Charli herself doesn't sound particularly special, but her voice works really well with the sweeth synths and vocal cuts. This song is all about Sophie but it's still fun to sing along to.
"Emotional" is one of the most 'normal' pop songs on the mixtape, with lines like "When the lights go out, when the lights go out / will you be there?". The post-chorus also reminds me of more radio-friendly pop. It's a charming song and could be a single easily. This could actually fit onto Sucker without sounding too out of place. The chorus itself sounds really great, with a pleasant, walking melody.
"ILY2" reminds me of a modern take on retro pop, with very bubbly synths and some nice electric guitars defining the production. Though I do feel like her claim of "I don't talk a lot" in the pre-chorus are a lie, the lyrics are catchy and overall this song seems very cohesive for the 1990s or 2000s pop-punk band feel it's trying so hard to achieve. This song still manages to stay in line with the more experimental feeling that she's shown recently, with some signature PC music elements.
"White Roses" is a lot more chill than anything that she's done recently. It's sleek and sensual, and sounds so extremely futuristic. Charli hits some notes higher than anything recently, and the almost chanted choruses sound amazing. This song never really speeds up, and just seems like one of those songs that you could chill out to while thinking. Some of the lyrics are explicit but some are almost like romantic poetry, such as "Love is like a rose / baby let it grow". Like the last line implies, this song is a bit of a grower, but I adore it now.
"Babygirl" sounds exactly like an 80s to 90s love song, with an almost spoken word first verse and some smooth crooning for the chorus. Charli sounds really amazing on this song, except for the choruses, which do sound rather awkward. Of course, this great aesthetic is completely ruined when Uffie comes on; her voice sounds like a preteen doing an extremely bad Jamaican accent. This part is honestly insufferable, and this song loses a lot of points due to it.
"Drugs" also has a bit of a weak chorus, and it does try a little bit too hard to feel explicit (especially one lyric about diamonds in ABRA's verse), but it's still a bop. The rapped verses by both Charli and ABRA are catchy and the pre-chorus also feels really well done. The more hip-hop influenced production sounds really great, and there's a long outro that seems to be just a time for the producers to mess around with chopped vocals, but it still sounds pretty cool.
Finally, "Lipgloss". This is not quite like anything that Charli has done in the past; it's extremely dirty, ESPECIALLY due to the explicit rapper Cupcakke. This is what Cupcakke always does, but seeing it with Charli is especially good. The chorus is one of the most catchy things I've ever heard; "Mmm-hmm, I keep it sticky icky like lipgloss" has been in my head since I first heard this album and I doubt that it's leaving my head anytime soon. Cupcakke sounds great; I can't quote many ofh er lines here, but one of the non-dirty lines that I love is "more eyes on us than the show iCarly". She usually has more urban beats, and hearing her over this PC Music, bubblegum production is amazing. Sadly, this song does the weirdest thing at the ending... Bringing in those sparkly synths from the 80s, Charli starts cooing "it's Chaaarrliii, hey Cupcakke!" This lasts for like a full minute and completely ruins the flow of the song. Without that in the track, this would be one of my favorites, but it goes from a strong 8 to like a 5 thanks to this.
Overall, Number 1 Angel is a lot more cohesive, has fewer weak spots, and is just more interesting and varied than Vroom Vroom. Moreover, I am extremely impressed that she released this as a free mixtape; this could honestly be a full priced album. The features are for the most part great, and the album cover is completely awesome. I'm very excited for her forthcoming full album, and this impressed me.
Final Verdict: 80/100
Favorite Tracks: Dreamer, Pull Up, Roll With Me, White Roses
Least Favorite Tracks: Babygirl, but only because I have to choose.
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