The Ice Palace

"The Ice Palace" is the first EP by Freddie Shelton. It was released on YouTube for free views in 2016. Since the songs got a good amount of views (especially It Doesn't Matter), the EP was commercially released in 2017. The EP reached 9 on the Billboard 200. Only one single was released: It Doesn't Matter, which peaked at 24.

Background
Freddie began writing songs in late 2014. He finished all the songs by early 2016. The EP covered the topics of growing up, equality, and love.

Composition
The album opens with "Stars". Stars features deep synths and synth voices. The lyrics describe how everybody is 'a star in the sky, and how all stars are different in size and brightness'. The next track, 'It's No Big Deal', is based on pop-rock. It features some rock guitars and a pop beat. The song describes how Freddie's friend has an admirer, but Freddie knows the admirer isn't good for his friend.

"The Ice Palace", the title track, features Freddie's vocals as an instrument. The synth instrumental comes in in the chorus. In the song, Freddie describes how he felt as if he were 'building his own ice palace' where he was alone. In the ice palace, it was 'cold inside, which also made his heart cold'. The next track, "Swimming", features many disco elements. It features organs and synths as well as using Freddie's vocals as instruments. In the bridge, strings come in. The song describes how someone makes Freddie feel as if he is swimming/floating. Freddie described that he never knew how to swim because of an incident where he almost drowned which made him scared of trying for about six years, although he always loved water the same, and he always felt he had a connection to water.

"It Doesn't Matter", the final track and only single, is an electropop song. It describes how it doesn't matter who you are, or what society thinks of you, and to just be yourself. Freddie chose this as the single because he felt 'it was the most commercial one and was the only one with a message to everybody out there'.

Overall, the genres featured are a wide variety for only five tracks: electropop, disco, pop-rock and indie pop.

Singles

 * 1) It Doesn't Matter

Track listing

 * 1) Stars
 * 2) It's No Big Deal
 * 3) The Ice Palace
 * 4) Swimming
 * 5) It Doesn't Matter