By: Enoch Whitaker Welcome to the second edition of New Music Friday, where I will be reviewing the most notable releases from last Friday. This includes Albums, EPs, and Singles from a variety of musical genres. After listening to each project a couple times, I will give my personal thoughts and opinions on it, then a score out of 10. This week we will be reviewing “Tyron,” the latest album from rising British rapper Slowthai, and “3,2,1,” a single by rising American popstar 24kGoldn.
To start off, I will be reviewing “Tyron,” the latest collection of songs from one of Britain's most polarizing musicians, Slowthai. This is his second commercial release after his debut album “Nothing Great About Britain” that came out in 2019. The British rapper had an interesting start to last year with his controversial performance at the NME awards. His performance was filled with many political statements and derogatory gestures, and left me wondering where his career could possibly go facing all of the backlash. Despite all of the controversy, Slowthai delivered an album full of personality and passion. This record has a total of 14 tracks and interestingly enough has two “sides.” The two “sides” provide a switch in musical direction halfway through the album. The first “side” of the album provides listeners with the Slowthai that fans have learned to love with song titles stylized in all capital letters. It’s full of tough, raw, and grimey song production with strong rhymes and flows from the British rapper. The most standout track on the first “side” is “MAZZA” featuring A$AP Rocky. This track is incredibly produced with many different layers to the instrumental. The main synth chords are complemented by the heavy hitting bass and rapid rim dum hits. On the second “side,” however, Slowthai opens up about his struggles growing up and with depression with songs stylized in all lower case letters. For me, this is where Slowthai shines the brightest. With smooth and beautiful instrumentals and samples, Slowthai gives you a short glimpse into his mind. The track “push” is easily one of the best songs that has come out so far this year. Featuring Deb Never, the song starts out with her melodically singing a chorus with a long acoustic guitar. After around 30 seconds Slowthai comes in and the song starts to build around him. It eventually continues to build up to a climax and then slowly drops around the vocals from Deb Never. I frequently find myself coming back to this album time and time again. It shows Slowthai at his highest highs and at his most vulnerable moments. I loved the idea of having the two “sides” to the album and it made the record so much more memorable. This album is a serious contender for my personal favorite album that has come out in the last year. I can say with confidence that this record feels like a strong nine out of ten. The next track I will be reviewing is “3,2,1” by rising popstar, 24kGoldn. In early 2020, the American singer struck gold by releasing his multi-platinum single “Valentino.” The track went viral, and 24kGoldn seems that he could not take a wrong step by following that single up with his first mixtape “DROPPED OUTTA COLLEGE.” Now a year after initially hitting the mainstream, he has announced his debut album, “El Dorado'' with a single “3,2,1” being released last Friday, February 22. After listening to this song many, many times through, all I can say is that I have mixed feelings about this song. While this song has great production and lyrics, this is nothing really new for 24kGoldn. I wasn’t impressed or surprised with the song itself because this is the same type of song that 24kGoldn has been releasing over the course of the last year. I feel like the American singer took the “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” approach with this track because it sounds good, but fails to stand out. This song also feels very repetitive as if all of the lyrics are the chorus because they all get repeated many times over. There are some things I do love about this track though, such as the use of the electric guitar on a mainly pop song. Not many artists are able to incorporate that into their pop style music and this is a perfect example on how to do it. Overall, this is a good preview of an album that I am excitedly anticipating and I am feeling a strong six out of ten on this single. This week we had a lot of fun and enjoyable music released. From Slowthai’s hard and gritty production to the sweet melodies of 24kGoldn, there was plenty of great music released last Friday. I would like to thank you for reading the latest edition of New Music Friday and I hope to see you next week.
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March 2023
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