Mercurial World is the debut studio album by the American musical duo Magdalena Bay, released on October 8, 2021, through Luminelle Recordings.

Developed for two years, Mercurial World was written, produced, and recorded by both members of the duo, Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin; additionally, the former provided the lead vocals, while the latter handled the mixing and mastering.

The album was promoted with four singles, Magdalena Bay's first headlining concert tour, and additionally supported by conceptual visuals with retro and Y2K aesthetics.

[2] Tenenbaum and Lewin then reconnected with the goal of making pop music,[2] inspired by several musicians including Fiona Apple, St. Vincent, and Grimes.

[1] After releasing several singles and extended plays (EPs) with a DIY approach,[5] they gained a cult following among pop fans,[6] and were signed to Luminelle Recordings.

[2] The album title was decided to be Mercurial World, after writing the eponymous song, because the duo felt that it "sums up" the themes present on all the tracks.

[10] Musically, it is a synth-pop[11] and electronic pop album,[12][13][1] with influences of several genres including psychedelia,[14] disco, electronica,[15] EDM, and hyperpop.

[2] Its production predominantly includes synthesizers, drum beats,[2] and pop hooks,[6] while also drawing from rock guitars and easy listening piano.

[13] The album was influenced by the indie pop bands MGMT and Chvrches,[6] as well as the musicians Grimes, Charli XCX, and Caroline Polachek.

[12] Lyrically, the album's main theme is the passage of time, while also leaning to relationships issues, stress about the future,[2] technology, and evolution.

[6] It was influenced by the singers Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears, and the disco band Chic;[15] according to the magazine Under the Radar, it is also reminiscent to the production of Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" (1995).

[1] As explained by Magdalena Bay, the lyrics are centered on "digital anxiety",[17] dealing with the over-sharing online and the duo's desire for privacy.

[7] The duo was inspired to create the song after watching Uncut Gems (2019), and listening to Gigi D'Agostino's "L'amour toujours" (2000), the single featured in the film.

[4] The existential eighth track, titled "Halfway", contains bleeps and synthesizers,[12] while "Hysterical Us" has elements of bubblegum pop and synth-rock,[2] with lyrics about anxiety and paranoia.

[21] The lyrics of "Prophecy" and "Follow the Leader" are a search for meaning; the former is a baroque pop ballad, while the latter contains robotic vocals and electronic instrumentals,[6] and was seen by Katherine St. Asaph of Pitchfork as similar to a remix of Beyoncé's "Party" (2011).

In its lyrics, Tenenbaum portrays a continuous quest for fulfillment: "I only drink when I'm drunk / Can't fall asleep on my own / I only wanna have some fun / Let the party never end".

[23] Magdalena Bay announced Mercurial World on June 30, 2021, and subsequently revealed its track listing and released its lead single, "Chaeri".

[4] The second single, "Secrets (Your Fire)", was released on August 11, 2021, alongside a music video that sees the duo inside a 2000s desktop computer.

was released as the album's third single alongside a music video,[18][31] which depicts Tenenbaum and Lewin in several humorous and failing situations.

[19] "Hysterical Us" was released as the fourth and final single from Mercurial World on October 5, 2021, along with an Ian Clontz-directed video filmed with the Milagros Collective in New Orleans.

[33] A music video for "Dreamcatching" premiered on March 3, 2022; it was directed by Felix Green and was made with Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) and VQGAN-CLIP technology, which creates images based on text and other pictures.

Magdalena Bay shared TikTok videos inspired by David Lynch's filmography, a videogame recalling Galaga (1981),[2] weekly live streams on the service Twitch, and an official website made by Tenenbaum with an Y2K aesthetic and GIFs.

[38] Magdalena Bay also performed at the first This Ain't No Picnic festival held in Pasadena,[38] and supported Charli XCX as well as the musicians Flume and Porter Robinson in their respective tours.

[45][6] Ben Cohn from Beats Per Minute said that Magdalena Bay has a "relentless dedication to detail" on the album, and the well-produced songs differences them from their contemporaries.

[15] St. Asaph admired the "impeccably timed" key and tempo changes,[11] while Moura opined that the diverse topics makes it "feel like a proper album".

[42] Our Culture Mag, PopMatters, and Pitchfork included Mercurial World on their year-end listicles of the best albums released in 2021, at numbers 19, 20, and 49, respectively.