On Today’s Menu: LUVCAT’s Debut, ‘Vicious Delicious’, And I Promise It Is Delicious

The kitchen of sweet, spice, and all things nice has opened as Luvcat’s long awaited debut album has reached our palates. Following her dark and sultry singles, Vicious Delicious (2025) promises to be exactly that, so let’s take a bite. 

Opening with ‘Lipstick’ truly sets a precedent for the album. The attitude and intoxication that comes with the song embraces you into the universe that Luvcat has created. She sings of desire and control, yet there is a raw vulnerability. She wants to be wanted, but she knows she can want herself. Countering this, there is a more mellow and ethereal pull with ‘Alien’. Sophie sings of feeling alienated and how it’s underappreciated, getting comfortable with being alone. 

Taken to the wild west with a banjo twang with ‘Matador’. Just like a bullfighter who is tasked to kill the bull, she is trying to change someone with the love that she has for them, the classic ‘I can fix them’ trope. In this scenario, it would seem Luvcat is the bull and wants this someone to not fight her, to not hurt her, wishing that they could see her differently; ‘to turn your black eyes hazel’. Unfortunately, we know that no one can be changed.

With a tune change in a more minor key, we are taken to ‘Dinner @ Brasserie Zédel’. The track is a velvet-drapped confession, a demand. The dynamic shift and release in melody aids the cabaret style theatrics that fuel her story telling. There is an anger in her voice as she slowly adds more to the fire, getting more frustrated as the song goes on, reminding the listeners that there is one thing she wants, and she has to have it. Just take her to the Brasserie Zédel, okay? In‘He’s My Man’, Luvcat prefaces her love for her man through a dark devotion that turns into a haunting obsession. Sophie’s voice on the track is eerie, emphasising the gothic substance of lust and romance, which the music video amplifies. It starts as a romantic profession, but slowly there are images of blurred vision, turning the tale into a fever dream. ‘Funny taste to his tea’ suggests that she is slowly controlling him, though it starts as her caring for him by making him dinner, turns into full deluded puppeteering.

Finally, the title track, ‘Vicious Delicious’. ‘I was never your Nancy, I was never your Penny Lane’, the notorious groupies of their time. Groupie lesson in session with, yours truly, me,  Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious (guess we know where the album title came from), the most chaotic and destructive pair of the 70s. Penny Lane, although a Beatles song, is also Pennie Lane Trumbull who was part of a group that travelled around as groupies for famous rock bands. With that in mind, it seems Luvcat is trying to tell us, she isn’t gonna be your groupie, she won’t follow you around but she doesn’t mind a little bite (don’t we all). The strings further develop the intensity of the song, layered with the drums which beat on throughout the whole song, carrying the instrumentals. 

‘Love & Money’ opens with a dreamy synth-pop melody as she describes the all-consuming romance. She discusses making love and lots of money, as well as a movie (cheeky). In all love there’s recklessness and a little danger, this track covers that idea of indulgence. The electric guitar parts, done by bandmate Thomas Fripp, allows the image to come to life, texturing the prechorus. When the scattered percussion first enters in the chorus, a bright image is created which turns all the recklessness into something that seems acceptable because you’re in love. 

‘Spider’ starts with the slow turning of those ballet jewellery boxes you had as a kid. Yet there is a sinister twist as the melody shifts into a jaunty keep-you-on-your-toes tone. She mocks the nursery rhyme ‘itsy bitsy spider’ as she comments on how it always rains on Thursdays, Melanie Martinez style. 

‘Emma Dilemma’, oh this is a masterpiece, and not just because I’ve got Emma in my name. This track is cheeky and sooooo twisted, it seems Emma’s dilemma is that she is being torn between two fellas, ‘half of hers in Manchester, half of hers in Spain’ (girl there is an obvious choice there). The male vocals add more layers to the track, working alongside Sophie’s alluring voice. The instrumentals on the track are sexy, devious, and alluring as Sophie spills Emma’s secret. 

Nearing the end of the album, we are now graced with ‘The Kazimier Garden’. The notorious Kaz can be found in Liverpool, but also mentioned earlier in ‘The Matador’, which I now believe are sister songs. This interlude of voices accompanied by a sultry melody leads me to believe that this is the calm before the storm. There is laughter amongst the muffled conversation, they seem happy and in love. Before she wishes she could change him, circling back on this theme throughout the album. 

‘Laurie’ is a confessional ballad of an overthinking heart, questions of ‘what if?’. The song explores unrealised chances and possibilities, pulling together memory and fantasy, and Luvcat describes the cyclical backwards and forwards of overthinking in love. The soft melodies are melancholic, tying the ache of her story, her voice and instrumentals to reflect the cruelty of her own imagination. Unlike ‘Blushing’ which perfectly describes that feeling with a youthful tenderness. The track slowly builds towards the intense yearning chorus. Forget mysteriousness, this is a love letter and a wish list, she finally lets us in to hear her deepest desire for romance, love, freedom, and happiness. Duality of woman. 

Are we in a James Bond movie? ‘Bad Books’ starts dark and tempting. There are a lot of jazz elements in this song, further emphasising the mysterious side of this album. Luvcat’s debut album delivered all things synth-pop with a dark and twisted femme-fatal side, creating a cohesive narrative of yearning, lust, and loss. 

Words by Emma-Jane Bennett