ANNA - Million Dollar Babe

Anna is a curious case in our pop scene, one of those acts that define a particular era of the mainstream and stick in the memory of anyone who grew up with that music. This "Million Dollar Babe" deserves the attention of anyone who wants to stay in touch with what kids and teenagers are listening to these days, so as not to wither away in nostalgia for times gone by. Getting to know her, though, doesn't mean praising or glorifying her: we already did that back when her hotly anticipated, disappointing debut "A true baddie" came out, which has since gone five-times platinum.

The most-streamed female artist on Spotify in 2024, Anna has to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. Having debuted at a very young age, she's now 23, and it's not a given she wants to remain forever a lively trapper caught somewhere between baddie and Barbie. "White Girl Wasted" laid out the new direction, an electro-trap mess bloated with autotune and an indefensible lyric that hunts for lazy rhymes even where none are needed:

She tells me she needs air, her name is Dalia
She acts all sickly-sweet, it practically gives me a cavity
Her type is a latin lover, baby, come on, for heaven's sake
You got together with the first idiot who came along

There's zero substance here, but the style has grown more aggressive across much of this second album's tracklist. The usual consumerist self-celebration of the opening "Million Dollar Babe", a deafening, clumsy techno-trap number, takes the chance to namedrop her meeting with Sergio Mattarella at the ceremony marking the 145th anniversary of Siae's founding.
On "Sono io il pass" (feat. Lazza) her rapping proves somewhat less crude, over a slower beat, but elsewhere things veer toward cut-rate latin territory worthy of the most pandering Baby K ("Catalano", "Scontrosa" with G. Mineiro), and later she even attempts an emotional track on the unforgivable "Cuore in off", all atmospheric synths and teenage lyrics. If at times everything feels too simple and straightforward, "Safari" (feat. Astro, Tony Boy) overcorrects in the opposite direction: in three minutes of deafening trap it keeps switching beats until it collapses into chaos. And despite a two-year wait, the album's second half often spins its wheels: short tracks that feel like freestyles packaged by a major label just to pad out the runtime.

Perhaps Anna would like to say something more about her personal journey, as on the closing "Veleno", a more emotional track despite its danceable rhythms and a finale built on distorted pads, but "Million Dollar Babe" almost never manages to pull it off. It's a muddled second album that doesn't land a single standout hit and rarely convinces when it tries to bare its claws. Even the mainstream deserves our attention, but no one will judge you if, just this once, you trust our eardrums instead.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

06/09/2026