At the start of PinkPantheress’ new mixtape, Fancy That, the 24-year-old singer and producer has simply been hit by the total power of an absurdly potent pressure of weed and is beginning to really feel the world tilt off its axis. “Unlawful” swerves straight into peak time, rising extra large and colourful because it crashes by way of the audio system. If the file’s first seconds are barely disorienting, it hardly appears to register for the singer—she must be essentially the most poised stoned individual on the planet. Pink’s voice is the cool middle of the music’s raging celebration, beckoning us to comply with as she sashays down the rabbit gap. “My title is Pink and I’m actually glad to fulfill you,” she deadpans by means of introduction, “You’re beneficial to me by some folks.” From right here on out she has zero intention of slowing issues up.
“Unlawful” begins like lots of PinkPantheress’ finest songs so far: musically busy, charmingly conversational, and locked right into a hazy headspace conjured by classic samples and the as soon as and future sound of drum’n’bass. By now the producer has made a specialty out of utilizing thundering breaks and glowing melodies to jolt her prepare of thought and chart a comet’s path out of her emotions. However not like her previous releases, Fancy That provides no daydreaming detours or moments of zoomed-out introspection. The face she places on is straightforward, forthright, and effortlessly cool—she’s arrived at some extent of readability and he or she’s by no means been extra prepared to bounce.
Initially, it might need been tempting to imagine that, as a result of her songs had been so brief and went viral on TikTok so simply, her work was too low-stakes and thinly sketched for sustained success. However although “PinkPantheress” started as an nameless deal with, it’s since grow to be an simple signature. Her 2023 debut, Heaven Is aware of, polished the scrappiness of her early work into tracks that constantly managed to clear the two- and even three-minute mark. Whereas that file yielded some simple gems (see the Joanna Newsom-at-the-rave lament “Ophelia” or the moony 2-step of “Mosquito”), her bite-sized strategy couldn’t all the time maintain its personal at full size. Though it gained’t shut down jokes about her observe occasions, the 20-minute Fancy That is PinkPantheress’ most enjoyable and absolutely realized launch but.
Fancy That is a portal into an alternate universe the place UK storage efficiently crossed the Atlantic and trend froze in 2006. However other than the extra superficial decisions (the duvet’s Lily Allen-inspired graphic collage, the choice to shoot the music video for “Stateside” in a JCPenney parking zone), Pink’s world-building performs out most vividly in her music. After largely forgoing samples on Heaven Is aware of, Fancy That is an encyclopedia of references that far exceeds stale Y2K cosplay. Refined clues just like the Panic! on the Disco strings that segue into “Tonight” or the hilarious, stoned call-and-response with a Nardo Wick pattern on “Noises” are juxtaposed in opposition to some thrilling acts of appropriation. “Unlawful” blazes into the combo by isolating and supercharging the synths from Underworld’s “Darkish & Lengthy (Darkish Practice Combine),” whereas “Woman Like Me” takes a Basement Jaxx pattern and spins it out right into a roaring velocity storage banger. British dance music has caught a second life throughout Gen Z pop; PinkPantheress’ tour by way of the hardcore continuum is lived-in and substantial, bringing the legacies of producers like Sunship, Adam F, and MJ Cole into the current whereas strutting her personal glittering new path.
