By: Petra Chase, Arts & Culture Editor
In: Atmospheric motifs
Atmospheres pull an album together and make it much more memorable. This is how Caroline Polachek’s album, Desire, I want to turn into you, sets itself apart. The way Polachek creates a moody, maximalist ambiance by peppering in tropical motifs that point back to the “island” concept in the opening track makes the album feel like a story with a setting: coconut-hollow percussion, wolf-like howls, and latin style strumming are some of the ways Polachek builds a sense of place. A similar technique is used in Kali Uchis’ sultry Red Moon in Venus: birds chirping, waterfalls, and shimmery textures transport you to the forest, basking under a red moon.
Out: Sped-up versions of songs
Remix culture is nothing new in online spaces, and while fan-made remixes can be fun, the sped-up songs trend does not involve creativity. Instead, it reflects a culture that consumes smaller snippets of content online at a much higher rate. Sped-up songs are gaining popularity on TikTok for this very reason: to fit more of the song into the length of a one-minute video. For now, you might not be able to avoid encountering these high-pitch versions, which conceal an artist’s unique voice and take away from the enjoyment of hits like SZA’s “Awkward” or RAYE’s “Escapism.” Music isn’t meant to be rushed, and I hope the sped-up phenomenon dies out soon.
In: Cyborgian electropop
Maybe my affinity for spacey vocals and speedy electropop vortexes lately are a response to heightening anxiety over AI, and the futuristic, robotic tone is a form of escapism from those emotions. All I know is PinkPantheress’ “Boy’s a liar” makes me feel like I’m in a cute video game in the very best way and I’ve been looking out for similar songs ever since. Princess Nokia recently released a few electronic singles tinged with pop-punk: “complicated” and “closure” are like whirlpools to get lost in and I’m all for it.
Out: Brining talented artists onto an uninspired track
What makes it so special when artists collaborate is the way their styles and talents fuse together. But on a boring track that isn’t catered towards letting each individual’s talent shine, it’s a let-down. Sam Smith’s “Gimme” featuring Jessie Reyez and Koffee is one of the worst collaborations I’ve seen this year. Sam Smith’s album had good songs and bad songs. It’s unfortunate they chose to invite two extremely talented artists onto the most uninspired melody and concept of the album. Wasting Reyez’ enormous vocal versatility to only repeat “Gimme” fourteen times (yes, I counted) with a melody that is worse than Justin Bieber’s “Yummy” was a big mistake. Koffee managed to write a killer verse, but, unfortunately, I was too distracted by the boring beat and chorus. It goes to show that collaborations should be intentional, with a collective vision.
