In the past week, a lot of high profile music has dropped,
but life isn’t all Swift and Gaga. Since the beginning of the year, women
artists have been putting it out there, and it’s worth our time to see what
they’re up to. Originally, I was only going to review the videos dropped in the
past two weeks, but I wanted to throw a larger net and catch Sa-Roc, so I just
made it a broader stretch of time.
Keep in mind that I’m not the target audience for anyone,
and no artist is under obligation to market to me anyway. However, I don’t want
these artists to go unnoticed, and once I got started making notes for them, I
figured I should do it for everyone.
Rapsody, “Afeni”
Furthermore, I’ll say that while I don’t always appreciate
the “featured” on women rappers’ tracks, PJ Morton’s vocals blend pretty
seamlessly into Rapsody’s work here. Nicely done.
Sa-Roc, “Hand to God”
Sa-Roc is a freakin’ flow MASTER. I don’t know how else to
describe it. She rhymes Dracula with octopi without skipping a beat. Coming up
after “Forever,”
which got a lot of attention and analysis from people who actually know what
they’re talking about when it comes to rap, and “Goddess Gang,” which is
heart-pumping killer anthem, this track has the mellow of “Forever,” but
expounds on a smaller message within one of its verses. Throughout the video
for “Hand to God,” Sa-Roc is being posed and bound up, buried and thrown away,
and praying before candles, trying to keep from becoming a plastic, fake rapper
or pushed out of the game, trying to convince her audience that she is and always
has been the real deal and she’s come too far to ever give up.
She’s so tremendously good that it’s hard for me to
understand why Sa-Roc isn’t considered the best rapper in the game, and yet
here we are. She’ll be going on tour with Rapsody, for which I’m grateful. I
snatched up this track as soon as I saw it!
Snow tha Product, “Perico”
I’ll do a list of tracks that are tight later, but one of my
current favs from her is “Butter,”
in which she raps about how she’s more interested in getting girls than taking
your man, and there’s a break in which some guys come over and won’t believe
that she’s out with her girlfriend trying to get home to have some fun. ;)
Taylor Swift, “The Man”
Tay-Tay’s take on Bey’s “If I Was a Boy,” except
she takes it in a different direction, by going full drag king to become Tyler
Swift and directing the video herself. Ty-Ty is a steam-roller of toxic
masculinity, flashing dollars on a stripper, fistbumping only the men in the
room, and manspreading all over the subway. Then pissing graffiti onto the wall.
The track itself is kind of catchy, although not as
emotionally arresting as “IFWAB” (song and video). It’s pretty standard Swift
fare in beat and lyricism. In fact, without the gimmick of the video and the
message, it would be forgettable. I won’t be hearing it as I’m going about my
day. However, the lyrics pretty strongly reflect some the stupider criticisms
that Swift has dealt with during her career. For example, complaining that she
writes about her exes and dates too much. Is that not pretty much the topic for
most pop musicians?
Other gripes, about how people would let her succeed without
constantly questioning whether she deserves it, come a bit close to self-pity
and myopia, but are fairly relatable to most women, especially in regards to
the way women-led media are often heavily criticized before even coming out. (This
sort of ignores how women of color get it but… moving on.) Regardless, unlike
some songs like “Bad Blood” or “Look What You Made Me Do,” the tone is not
angry, but wistful. All in all, I liked “Bad Blood” better.
Kesha, “High Road”
Okay. I’m not wild about this video. It’s kind of messy and
all over the place. That may be the aesthetic they were going for, fallen Miss
America/outsiders. But whatever. I really enjoy the song itself. In a way,
Kesha is not as inclined as Swift to just put out song after song about
herself, even though her latest tracks suggest she’s been compelled to comment
on all of the press surrounding these events, or at least use her music to
process some of it. “My Own Dance” does this more so (while still being fun),
and “Praying” very famously did in a raw way. This track is a good mix between
commenting on her new direction as an artist and the kind of songs people can
enjoy and have fun with which she has always said she wanted to do.
All in all, I think both strategies are worthwhile, and
Kesha is underrated.
Lady Gaga, “Stupid Love”
“Born this Way” and “Perfect Illusion” joined a thruple with
“Edge of Glory” and gave birth “Stupid Love,” a bouncy pop track that cries out
to be loved, dammit. If the sound didn’t give you enough bubblegum, Gaga wears
pink top to bottom in the video, including her wigs.
The concept is that the world is overcome by division, and
while others passively pray to make things better, the “Kindness Punks” fight
for it. So they dance battle in the middle of a wasteland, trying to make
things better. It’s like if Fury Road became a musical.
The positives of the song are that, in spite sounding a
mash-up of Gaga’s early work, the messages of love, shedding shame, letting
people see you, and protecting yourself from pain via love are decent. And
sounding like a mash-up of Gaga’s early work… it does evoke a lot of nostalgia.
This song will be in your head forever, and I’m sure it was designed
specifically to be an anthem for gay and young people in the way her earlier
works were.
(Doesn’t mean I don’t wish we could get more experimental
works from her. Sometimes, I think I’m the only person who liked Artpop.)
The video has a lot of movement and reads clearly as a
concept, but it isn’t terribly deep. There was a time when I waited to see the
next one because there so many layers of symbolism, and since then, Janelle Monae has far surpassed her in the futurism
department for videos. In the end: I expected more?
Doja Cat, “Say So“
Apart from the visuals (which are just… neat), I really
enjoy the smooth vocal of the main hook in contrast with the bars that Doja
throws into the middle of the track. It’s infinitely re-listenable.
In short: Sa-Roc, autobuy. Kesha and Doja have extremely enjoyable tracks, and Rapsody continues to queen. Okay song and video from Gaga, but I’m
expecting more from the next releases. Swift is… Swift. In pants.
