Aiko Tomi’s 'Everything Sparks Joy' is a sugar-rush fever dream for the existentially curious

Photo: Aiko Tomi

Aiko Tomi isn’t interested in playing it safe, she’s here to turn your mental furniture upside down and set it on fire in neon pink flames. With her newest collection 'Everything Sparks Joy', the Toronto alt-pop provocateur delivers a dizzying, genre-defying thrill ride that feels like rummaging through a thrift shop of your own psyche at midnight.

From the opening seconds of the title-track, Tomi makes it clear she’s operating in her own universe; one where glitchy synths collide with elastic beats and where each chorus feels like a confetti cannon going off inside your skull. Songs like ‘BOUNCE’ yank you onto the dance floor, only to have you questioning the meaning of joy itself while you’re mid-twirl. Meanwhile, cuts like ‘blueberries’ only push deeper into her kaleidoscopic imagination, blending hyperpop energy with left-field sonic experiments that refuse to sit still.

But what truly elevates 'Everything Sparks Joy' is the sharp wit lurking beneath its sugar-coated surface. Tomi is fearless in her excavation of modern anxieties, such as our curated identities, our hunger for connection, and our tendency to confuse dopamine hits for meaning. It’s all here, delivered with a wink, daring you to laugh and cry at the same time.

The album feels like a moodboard for the terminally online, a pixelated love letter to the beautifully chaotic mess of being alive right now. At its heart, 'Everything Sparks Joy' is a celebration of the unfiltered self, the parts of us that get lost between filters and algorithms, and the parts that spill out when we’re alone in the glow of our bedroom lights.

With this release, Aiko Tomi stakes her claim as one of indie-pop’s most fearless shapeshifters. It’s messy, ecstatic, and painfully self-aware. Put it on, turn it up, and let yourself get lost in the glitch.