Fire's Chill Pick - June 2025

 Hi guys!! It’s the monthly Chill Pick article!! What am I serving up this month? Well, how about some...hot cakes (haha get it I’m so funny)?


Olivia Ridgely - Hot Cakes

Release: May 28, 2025

Genres: Pop, Indie Pop

This is the 4th time Olivia Ridgely formerly known as Ridgely formerly known as Claire Ridgely is getting a song featured in my Fire’s Chill Pick segment, third only this year. I still love “All I Ever Wanted”, “Blu”, and “Lucky” and think Olivia Ridgely has an underrated knack for quietly scathing songwriting. And “Hot Cakes” falls into a similar category, even if I will say it doesn’t quite measure up to her best. Olivia Ridgely uses the term “hot cakes” as a metaphor for how her partner treats her, something enjoyable for a brief moment but ultimately discarded. She appears to be dating a guy who only sees her as a cheap rebound after a breakup and Olivia Ridgely is burned by being seen as so disposable. It makes the “Claire, how long did you cry for?” lyric feel like Olivia is trying to console herself upon this realization (or possibly she’s playing the role of another party talking to her?). And aside from the fact that it makes me question if her name is Olivia or Claire, it’s a really vulnerable moment. So yeah, on the strength of the songwriting alone this is already great. But I will say that this doesn’t quite hit being incredible because of the production, which honestly reminded me more of Jason Mraz than anything else, yikes. The production feels oddly lightweight with the coffee shop aesthetic and whistling and that doesn’t really fit the lyrics all that well. Obviously this is lightyears ahead of the horrendous garbage that is “I’m Yours” because I’ll take Olivia Ridgely’s smart and cutting songwriting to Jason Mraz’s skin-crawling scatting, but it is a weird clash that I still take issue with nonetheless. Now with that, I give this a high 8/10, it’s a great song; absolutely recommended and I’m left with just a few questions to Olivia Ridgely to close this review off: 1.) Does this mean you have an album in the works? You absolutely have the potential for something special. And 2.) Is your name Claire or Olivia? Make up your mind girl.

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