With a voice that recalls the smoky soulfulness of Amy Winehouse, Lusaint became an overnight sensation in 2019 when her acoustic cover of En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go (Love)” appeared on Love Island, breaking the record for the UK’s most Shazamed song in a single day. Though it took until 2023 for the English singer-songwriter to release her first original single, her 2024 debut EP, Self Sabotage, proved she had stories of her own worth telling. A vintage cocktail of jazz, pop, and soul, the set reflected on toxic relationships and the destructive habits that keep us coming back. If Self Sabotage was the hurt, her follow-up, Apothecary (Pt. 1), is the first step toward healing. Much of that transition is tied to Lusaint leaving her hometown of Manchester in search of a life beyond her comfort zone. Over the ambling guitar of “Neon Lights”—a song written four years prior but newly resonant—she recalls the mundanity of walking Tib Street, the Northern Quarter strip where she got her start singing in a local jazz club. “I'm missing something lately/My reason why/I'm rolling off the driveway/Into the night,” she declares. But the bruises of romance still linger on “Lie to Yourself,” where finally seeing a lover’s red flags still isn’t enough to cut ties, while “Joking” grapples with the realization of being somebody’s second choice. The golden-hour glow of “Summertime” is hope masking the uncertainty of waiting for someone to commit. Healing here is less closure than clarity—the diagnosis before the prescription.