Miss Universe (album)

Miss Universe is Nilüfer Yanya's first full-length album. Yanya eschewed using any of her material from previous EPs, choosing instead to write an album using entirely new material, although some of the songs, such as "Monsters Under the Bed", had been written long beforehand.[6]

The album is interspersed with interludes featuring messages from "WWAY Health", voiced by Yanya, which are short monologues in the form of automated phone messages that intimate at an alienating healthcare bureaucracy, with sparse ethereal sounds in the background.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.8/10[7]
Metacritic	85/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Clash	9/10[10]
The Guardian	[11]
The Independent	[4]
Mojo	[12]
NME	[13]
The Observer	[14]
Pitchfork	8.3/10[3]
Q	[15]
Uncut	8/10[16]

Miss Universe received wide critical acclaim on its release,[6][13][17] with critics noting Yanya's ability to bounce back and forth between musical and lyrical styles, shifting between "gimlet-eyed composure and cataclysmic panic".[3] The album was described as nervous and restless, combining influences from indie rock to soul, jazz, and trip hop.[6][18] A Stereogum review called Yanya's voice "malleable and endlessly expressive", and described the song compositions as "minimal and instinctual".[5] Pitchfork ranked the album as one of the best of 2019 in their year end review.[19]

Notes

• Track 1 is stylised as "WWAY HEALTH™"
• Track 11 is stylised as ""Sparkle" GOD HELP ME"

• Miss Universe at Discogs (list of releases)