Video and Audio: August 2021
"Only answer with 'Yes' or 'Woof'. I don't need a dog who says 'No'."
Colleen Green: “I Wanna Be a Dog”
You read my Chainsaw Man thing from last week, right? Anyway, it’s not just hybrid devil-humans who long to be rubbed on the belly and told they’re good—a life so simple you only need one-and-a-half notes for the chorus.
Billie Eilish: “NDA”
Aren’t things better when Finneas puts his share of the work in? On the chorus, Eilish’s lightly processed voice blends with her highly processed voice, making her both victim and victimizer.
Ayron Jones: “Mercy”
Big riff hard rock’s great Black hope (unsurprisingly, a dad) (from Seattle) knocked off Seether for his first Mainstream Rock number one. It was probably the screamed adagio coda that did it, but his greater achievement might be getting the words “can’t breathe” on to heritage rock radio.
Big Red Machine ft. Taylor Swift: “Renegade”
Before I regrettably looked up who Big Red Machine were, I thought (i) man Taylor is STILL enchanted by Owl City, and (ii) who the fjuck is the male singer who crashes the song into a nails-on-blackboard factory at the end?
Heavy-K ft. Soulstar & Mo-T: “Wami Forever”
South African house DJ speeds up and invigorates “Sexual Healing” with platform game squiggle-bounces, an unusual sense of urgency in Soulstar’s falsetto, and Mo-T’s trumpet cooling the radiator.
DJ Cleo ft. Bucy Radebe: “Gcina Impilo Yami”
South African house DJ takes a gospel hit and adds synthbass comfort-farts and percussion so expedient that even the singer claps on the one and three sometimes.
Low Cut Connie: “Little Red Corvette”
There’s a market inefficiency in the comparative dearth of recordings of Prince songs, particularly with covers OP in the current meta of The Algorithm. Admittedly the degree of difficulty is high, but I mean, Martika pulled it off.
Dave ft. Stormzy: “Clash”
I know lyrics aren’t everything in hip hop (it’s not like pop), but surely it should be some kind of national embarrassment that British people are currently better at line-by-line rapping than Americans? A Congressional inquiry is necessary.
Doja Cat: “Ain’t Shit”
“I’m a freak, not a masochist”—well I’m glad someone in this column isn’t! She goes into head voice to emphasize that no man earning under median income is getting any. Probably no woman either.
Palberta: “Big Bad Want”
“Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want! Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want! Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want! Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want! Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want! Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want! Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want! Yeah! I can’t! Pretend what I want!”