The singer-songwriter chronicles her life in storybook fashion and vivid detail. On her 2023 debut album TWENTY SOMETHING, country singer-songwriter Alana Springsteen (no relation) took stock of the first rocky years of her emerging adulthood. Now in her mid-twenties, Springsteen has expanded her perspective on life and love in breadth and depth, experiences she once again details on this sophomore outing. Produced by Springsteen alongside a bevy of collaborators including Sam Martinez (Bailey Zimmerman, Caroline Kole) and Chris LaCorte (Tucker Wetmore, Adam Doleac), I HOPE THIS HELPS listens almost like a diary, with an intro, interlude, and outro lending the 16-track collection a storybook feel. Early release “note to self” kicks off the story in earnest, as Springsteen turns a clear, almost Swiftian eye to her own origin story with a devastating opening line: “You started life as double lines nobody planned for.” Springsteen has a knack for that kind of gut-punching lyric, one that adds emotional heft to even the lightest tracks, like on “love me anyway” when she sings, “Would you pray for me to change or would you love me anyway?” Other highlights include “same God,” an Emily Weisband co-write about finding one’s own path to spirituality, and “selfish,” a relatable account of leaving people-pleasing habits behind.