And the big pivot is… a well-kept and expensive blend. tame impala-style psych rock, A24 synthpop, loungey R&B, and silk sonicfunk like, it sounds instantly appealing and doesn’t feel experimental at all. In 2020, Yachty’s contemporaries Lil Uzi Vale When playboi carti,release Eternal Atake When Whole Lotta Red: Pushing the existing sound to a level like no other, the album showcases not only the artists’ rap, but their conceptual vision as well. Yachty, on the other hand, is working within an already well-defined and commercially successful template. Is this what the monologue is for?
To Yachty’s credit, he delivers outstanding performances in crowded projects. It’s his gift of diversity that makes him such a singular rapper. He bounces from style to style without losing his individuality. A lesser-interested artist would have been anonymized by the sophistication of the producer’s sound, such as: chair liftPatrick Wimberley of Unknown Mortal Orchestra‘s Jacob Portrait, pop songwriters Justin and Jeremiah Lysen, Mac Demarco, Alex G.and, um, Tory LanezThe production has always leaned toward extravagant rather than thrilling, distracting rather than conceptual. But Yachty himself is sticking with ideas he’s struggled to articulate since 2017. teenage emotions: Overcoming loneliness, heartbreak, and failure. He’s still not a strong enough writer to nail them, and the check-collecting experts in the credits didn’t seem to help much, but his highly expressive vocals make up for it.
In fact, amidst all the hoopla about genre jumping on this project, the real draw is the way Yachty uses Auto-Tune and other vocal effects as tools to release not just sound, but emotion. Building on the vocal wrinkles introduced in last year’s viral moment.”Polandwhere he sounds like he’s cooling through a ceiling fan, highlights Start here. Raise your voice in a strange direction. The vocals in the background of the wistful hook of “pRETTy” sound like they’re getting a deep tissue massage while trying to harmonize. His high-pitched melody in “paint THE sky” The Weekend upon Dawn FMThe chorus of “time out” at the beginning is like a yattie impersonation Bruno Mars To imitate James Brownand the way he can’t quite suppress his squeak enough to copy it perfectly is what makes it original.
Unfortunately, everything surrounding his unpredictable and adventurous vocal detours is all too mundane. An instrumental moment that seems strange and psychedelic—hard rock guitar his riffs galloping to a blissful finale on “BLACK Seminole.” Or the slow construction of “REACH THE SUNSHINE.” — coming off like half-heartedly. Diana GordonFalsetto-driven funk on “drive ME crazy!” Reach for the superhuman register, but other guest appearances, Hooshieclipped nimbleness in “pRETTy” and Daniel CaesarThe faded howl of the ending is forgettable.it never bad: The synth of “Say SOMETHING” sparkles. The intro and outro of “WE SAW THE SUN!” are longer. Set the lost trippy mood they’re supposed to. “THE zone~” blooms many times, and the underline is Justin Skysweet and relaxing melody. All digestible, perfect and safe. Start here. It’s obvious you want to hang on your dorm room wall tide When blonde When IgorIt might work too.
Instead, think of this album as a reminder of how limitless rap can be. We long for the future of the genre to arrive, and its current sound is seen as limiting and inferior. But rap is everything you can imagine. I’m thinking about “Poland”. This is the strangest song of all here. It’s chaotic at 1:23, original and fun. I took that track more seriously than any I’ve heard in the last year because it hooks on a simple rap melody and pushes it to the brink. Soon, another rapper hears it and goes the other direction, and another rapper does the same. That’s how you really get to the future.