ALBUM REVIEW: Ava Max releases her third album 'Don't Click Play'
Words: Jett Tattersall
Published: 25 August
“In due time, I have so much to say. But for now, Don’t Click Play.” With that lone declaration - after weeks of social media silence - Ava Max resurfaced and, hours later, dropped her sugar-rush of a third studio album, Don’t Click Play. Max was leaving it to her craft to do the talking.
The release arrives on the platform-heels of a staggering pop run: the 2018 breakout smash ‘Sweet But Psycho’, multi-platinum juggernauts like ‘Kings & Queens’, collaborations with Tiësto (‘The Motto’) and KYGO (‘Whatever’), two global albums - Heaven & Hell (Platinum, 2020) and Diamonds & Dancefloors (acclaimed, 2023) - and even her contribution to the billion-streaming Barbie The Album. With over 22 billion streams under her belt, Ava Max isn’t just dropping another record - she’s carving another heirloom into her pop legacy.
But the real allure of Max is the proud grit in the glamour, the boilersuit under the sequins. Born to an opera-singer mother and pianist father who fled post-communist Albania, Ava inherited music and tenacity in equal measure. By her teens, she was chasing the pop dream relentlessly, often scraping by, until ‘Sweet But Psycho’ lit the fuse. Critics called it luck, but Ava corrected them: it wasn’t luck, it was labour. The track was the harvest of laser focus, hard yakka, and a refusal to quit. Ever since, she’s worn her hard knocks like a badge of honour, her pop tracks infused with an undeniable spirit.
Don’t Click Play is another glittering example of that resilience, repackaged as a fearless, neon-soaked, tongue-in-cheek pop odyssey. Across twelve tracks, Max revels in the battlefield she helped reshape - armed with beats, bite, and a wicked sense of humour. The collection kicks off with its namesake. ‘Don’t Click Play’ is both an invitation and a dare - a slick, confident opener where Max takes aim at the endless Gaga comparisons. “…kings and queens look good with poker faces, but I’m loving myself even if you hate it,” she sings, playful and pointed in the same breath. It’s a wink, not a wound, and it sets the stage for ‘How Can I Dance’ - all sticks, stones, and “holdin’ grenades.” She caws the challenge with a smile, beckoning her foe onto the floor to duke it out in a dance battle. Together, they’re a fearless, gleeful one-two punch.
‘Wet, Hot American Dream’ struts in with the marching band; the all-American girl pin-up, soaked in summer heat. Released on July 4th, it works as a campy, flirty, fireworks-ready pop banger - but with Max’s heritage and ever-persistent need to push buttons, there’s a playful parody running beneath the red-white-and-blue veneer. ‘World’s Smallest Violin’ is undeniably one of the album’s most addictive cuts - and one that should have been a single. The production is razor-sharp, Max’s vocals turned up to international stage levels, the writing gold, and the stomp undeniable. It’s Max in her element, lacing sugar with spikes and making it dance.
Shifting the tone again, ‘Fight For Me’ is a cracking track - sleek, urgent pop with a steely stance and a voice to break your heart. Max’s refrain lodges deep, and that familiar, addictive throat-catch in her vocal gives it weight. It’s the kind of track that reminds you how Max’s core grit cuts clean through the gloss. ‘Take My Call’ nods to early-’00s club tracks, all funk beats and mirror-ball spins - a perfect pre-party track that also stretches Max’s vocal style into new and welcome territory. ‘Skin In The Game’ leans sharp, while Sucks To Be My Ex lands with a bared-teeth, high-fiving laugh and killer pop beat.
Then, in a corner pocket of the dancefloor, the mood pivots. ‘Know Somebody’ is a sombre pop-rock toe-tapper that stops you cold - an unexpected ABBA-adjacent chorus cloaking a brutal truth: “You think you really know somebody, but you only really know their name.” Its companion, the lead single ‘Lost Your Faith’, carries that same edge of resilience. Pop-rock with a dance heartbeat in its chorus, the track is Max at her most rawly declarative. As she explained on release: “Somewhere in the wreckage, you realise you’re still standing.” Both tracks peel back the polished glamour to show the steel beneath.
Going out on one hell of a sugar high, ‘Catch My Breath’ closes the album in pure euphoria: arcade-pop intro, neon rush, sugar and lust all rolled into one. After the grit, the parody, the heartbreak and the fight, it feels like acceleration, an artist flooring the gas into her own mythology, sequins flying in the rear-view mirror. Across the album, Ava Max revels deliciously in the pop multiverse. She knows her worth and never mistakes fun for thoughtlessness. Don’t Click Play isn’t a warning - it’s an invitation. Hit play, and you’ll find an artist who has forged her well-earned megaphone through hard knocks and a wicked sense of humour.
Don’t Click Play is out now via Warner Music. You can buy and stream here
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