Record Review: Goldie Montana by Goldie Boutilier

Goldie Boutilier’s luck has changed. About time, too. Her new album, Goldie Boutilier presents… Goldie Montana, is a strong entry in her scattered catalogue that points to a bright future ahead. 

Ten years ago, Boutillier’s future in the music business didn’t look nearly as hopeful as it looks now. Cape Breton-born, Kristen Boutilier, experienced an initial bit of success and hype in the early 2010s, which faded as quickly as it arrived. Nicole Sullivan reported in the Cape Breton Post that from then on, her career and personal life suffered. She was a victim of exploitation, sexual abuse, and had to use sex work to support herself. She’s since found healing through her honesty, community, and music.

In recent years she’s gone independent and reconnected with former producers. She’s had multiple successes leading up to the release of her debut album, including her critically well received Cowboy, Gangster, Politician EP in 2022 and her 2025 Edmonton Folk Fest performance. 

Goldie Boutilier presents… Goldie Montana, released September 5, 2025. On this album, Boutillier uses her fraught history with the music business to mythologize herself, a smart artistic move. The album reinvents Boutillier as Goldie Montana, a scarface-esque, savvy yet tragic, mystery woman with a troubled past. Alt-country and retro visual and musical aesthetics are popular nowadays. Ethel Cain, somewhat Sabrina Carpenter, and especially Lana Del Ray come to mind. However, Goldie isn’t a derivative of these women. When she sings about sex work and having to claw her way out of the gutter on “Terrible Things,” a standout on the album, her honesty comes through powerfully.

When Boutillier sings about abuse on “Terrible Things,” she has authenticity and authority. She means it. In this track, Boutillier utilizes glamourous imagery. But, she adds depth and meaning as well by using very honest, biting lyrics. She does something similar on the track “Who Are You Gonna Worship Now?,” a song unpacking Boutillier’s negative experience with the entertainment business. Boutillier explores being trapped, silenced, and exploited. She reflects on the multiple lives she’s had to live because of it. 

On the album, Boutillier is liberated from these patterns by taking on a male persona on the songs “I Am the Rich Man,” “Goldie Montana,” and “King of Possibilities.” Another great track is “Yacht is Sinking (interlude).” It features no lyrics, but the instrumentals sound incredible with Boutillier’s voice echoing throughout. The sinking yacht is a strong but underused motif in this record. 

The production, in general, is high quality. The vocals are well produced and the production mimicking a live-band compliments the aesthetic of the record. “I Can’t” is another notable song. It’s lyrically sharp and emotional, very reminiscent of the alt-pop ballads Lana Del Rey has been perfecting since 2019’s Norman Fucking Rockwell.

This album is at its best when Boutillier is turning powerlessness into power, with intention and clarity. Without a clear cut centre, some of the songs don’t work as well. Some suffer from some clunky or vague lyricism. “Neon Nuptials,” a song about the elopement of two rogue, runaway cowboy characters, contains some lyrics without clear meanings. 

The third track, “Snake eyes,” about money, sex, and scandal, also suffers from a lack of specific or affecting details, and coasts off vibes alone. “Favorite Fear,” despite being a good track, is held back in the same way “Snake Eyes” is. 

Since the release of the album, Boutillier hasn’t slowed down. She’s dropped a music video for the track “Favorite Fear,” a very cool, noir-esque experimental, dance-based video.

Boutilier’s had a great year, and hopefully she continues the momentum into the next. I hope she can turn around another album as good, or better than this one, in the next year or two. Goldie Boutillier (or Montana) is a hard character not to root for. I recommend fans of female alt-pop artists, who want to have more Canadian music in their rotation, to give this album a spin.