Video and audio: September 2020
"You can't fight fire with fire I know, but at least we can turn up the flames some"
Lil Baby: “The Bigger Picture”
A liberal wet dream, from “all whites not racist” to the ballot-over-bullet solutions to coming very close to taking moral responsibility for the hard-dripping rap previously dealt by him and his colleagues. As someone who likes both liberalism and his collaborations with Gunna while insisting there’s more to life, I’m moved by his thoughtfulness and leadership and will totally understanding if he soon returns to rapping about watches and loud cars.
Taylor Swift: “Betty”
After a decade plus, she’s returned to her historic strength: a short character piece about teens in love, only here with harmonica and cardigans to make the triumphant-or-is-it key change acceptable to the hipsterati. To be clear, this is not an improvement over the best of Fearless, but this would be like asking Shakespeare to improve on Romeo and Juliet. What? He did? Like, six times? Tell him to go fuck himself.
Rina Sawayama: “Bad Friend”
These days nostalgia is permitted only if you at least feel guilty about something, a condition she has no difficulty satisfying. She digitally harmonizes with herself on the chorus to make her self-beratement multivocal, and yet since this is pop music it has its element of exultation. Can’t have been a bad friend if you never had friends!
Sun-El Musician ft. Msaki: “Ubomi Abumanga”
The same basic pattern as “Akanamali”: warm synths never quite reaching a boil while the singer, in this case Msaki of East London (the South African one) makes claims for the uniqueness of her lover. It ain’t broke yet.
Anna Högberg Attack: “Dansa Margit”
A chiropractic solo from tenor Elin Forkelid, who more than once plays a note that for a millisecond has you thinking a pretty phrase is coming, then immediately switches to violent blurt. Upon punking you to her satisfaction, she returns to her one designated note.
Niniola ft. Femi Kuti: “Fantasy”
Aided by Afrosax accompaniment and the occasional loud drum, Niniola details daydreams that at least from the video look kind of painful—for him, I mean. Power: it’s good to have!
Justin Moore: “Why We Drink”
It’s dang near unpatriotic to be short of excuses to booze up, even if one appends “With Our Friends Even Though There’s Aerosol Transmission” to the title.
DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch: “Rockstar” (BLM remix)
Unlike Lil Baby, DaBaby makes no attempt at bridge-building, keeping his Glock close in the chorus, and that’s fine. The point of liberalism is that the illiberal too have the right not to be summarily executed.