TikTok has boosted careers of artists in a slump with revitalizing singles that may have fallen flat (Sada Baby’s "Whole Lotta Choppas" comes to mind), but hasn't truly given us a star that didn't exist previous to the app’s global domination. Then came Pinkpantheress. Not only did the UK singer and producer gain traction off "Just For Me", the highest charting single from the project peaking at #27 in the UK, but also with the release of songs "Pain" and "Break You Off". She is the first in a growing universe of TikTok musicians to gain and release a major record, and also the most promising star yet. Her debut project, released on October 15th, gives us a whirlwind 19-minute experience guided by drum and bass style loops and samples from across the globe, further showing she has a chance to become a household name.
Her soft-spoken poems flow at the same pace as the club ready drums, blurring the lines between singing and rapping in a way that's yet to be done. The clearest example of this new flow can be found on "Last Valentines", a 73 second tale about a failed love that she still craves to keep in her life. This theme of complicated love and the fallout from it is held up across the record, sometimes hiding in plain sight. "Passion" focuses on fallouts with loved ones such as family more so than a romantic lover, meanwhile the catchy guitar based "Just For Me" is a warehouse rave ready cut based around begging for love to be returned her way. Underpinning each record are some combination of replayed chords from hit records ("I Must Apologise" creeping dangerously close to T.I.'s "Why You Wanna") guitar loops (this is my official petition to have Gunna remix "Just For Me") and ethereal strings ( as seen on "Nineteen", a song begging to be placed in Netflix's next coming of age love story).
To Hell With It is built to survive in this streaming era, but not only due to the music being fantastic, but due to the structure of the records itself. It's 10 records long, with only 3 going over the 2-minute mark. It's built to be ran back time and again, with each rewind becoming easier to find your footing to really sink in and recognize the high-level writing. Her songwriting and ear for garage and drum-and-bass percussion are her strong-suits, but she falls short in the actual strength of her vocals. Not to say the vocals are bad, because they aren't. They sit over the production the way a satin shirt sits on your body; a soft and cooling experience that as the day goes on you might forget it's even there. Vocal power is not a focus for pinkpantheress, because honestly it doesn't need to be. If she came through with gospel powered vocals, it would clash with the high-speed percussions and take away from the stories delicately weaved between each glittering piano key.
On the album cover and across the multiple visualizer videos released, you see pinkpantheress herself in-front of a small cottage home in the middle of a storming night, and it's not without intention. At 19 years old most of the stories she sings of happened in her early years, at a time where kids are in high school dealing with first heartbreaks and the struggles of becoming a real person. What is a young person to do when dealing with these emotions? Parents don't always understand, and friends may be the cause of these heartbreaks so talking to them is out of the question. The cover works as a representation not only of the times when these memories were made, but of the moments after the fact when it's just you to deal with the repercussions. Alone in the late night, not far from a safe place but always close enough to where you can have some sort of protection. This record pulses to the heartbeat of an emotional youth living through the formative years that have shaped us all into who we are and is wrapped in that aesthetic on the cover as well as anyone could ask.
Best Songs: "Last Valentines" and "Nineteen"
Best Beat: "Break It Off"
If You Enjoyed This Record Check Out: Crush EP by Rayvn Lenae & Steve Lacy & In Person by Sweet Female Attitude
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