Video and Audio: February 2021
Boys will be boys, and other tragedies
Dua Lipa: “Boys Will Be Boys” (Zach Witness & Blessed Madonna remix)
This took three tries to get right. After an initial disarming verse, the original wasn’t witty enough to justify its low energy, whereupon Witness decided one might as well flatten it into a slogan and put a bunch of percussion on it. Finally the Blessed Madonna put the content back in and threw in some sirens, just to fjuck the patriarchy.
Kahil El’Zabar: “Express Yourself”
A tremendous rhythm performance by Tomeka Reid, who simply by repeating Melvin Dunlap’s bass figure does for jazz-rock pizzicato cello what Richard Davis did for bass on Astral Weeks. Getting harder to make a case against this becoming the national anthem.
Flo Milli: “Beef FloMix”
The breakout of her Mobile-meets-Valley Girl persona, this is two minutes of sunshine, complete with dog in convertible when she says “I’m the big dawg, my nickname is Scooby” (though the video dog is a German Shepherd, smh what do kids even know these days.)
DJ Chose, BeatKing: “Thick”
As someone lazy with his fricatives, I appreciate how Chose’s stutter of the title word is more like “t-t-t-t-t-tick”, and barely aspirated at that, though it’s clearly distinguishable from BeatKing’s perhaps inevitable “d-d-d-d-d-dick.”
Sotomayor: “Menéate pa’ mí”
Now here’s something new: merengue-house! <does literally any research> Okay apparently merengue-house has been around for thirty years, but this is a good iteration: Mexican siblings alt it up while the all-but-monotone hook assures danceability.
Playboi Carti, Kid Cudi: “M3tamorphosis”
Carti stays in head voice to signify how deep he is in his own head: it’s a whole other universe in there. Kid Cudi adds no words of value, but is a good hummer.
Eric Church: “Hell of a View”
The same “we left this small town to get away people” territory he’s long mined, but the us-against-the-world lyrics have a bit more edge-rhymes-with-“ledge” to them than usual. How bohemian!
Emma Swift: “Queen Jane Approximately”
It’s a matter of time before Dylan gets cancelled, so yes, let’s have thoughtful women re-record all his songs with problematic-to-mixed attitudes toward problematic-to-mixed women, dialing down but not eliminating the judginess.
Sloan & Skiano: “BabyShark”
They gleefully revel in the utter immaturity of rapping about head and benzos with Pinkfong as the accompaniment. It seems like harmless fun, until you learn that Skiano was shot to death in July, aged 18.
Olivia Rodrigo: “Drivers License”
This veers close to being risibly bad—the “red lights, stop signs” bridge sounds like a Lorde imitation by Rebecca Black’s songwriters—but has an integrity to it, demonstrating that teenagers who haven’t yet developed the preternatural self-possession of Rodrigo’s teen idols get their hearts hurt too. Every young person deserves a chance to be immature, and a chance to grow out of it.