Tion Wayne’s latest single pulls no punches. “Streets A Lie” builds round a haunting Billie Eilish pattern from “Ocean Eyes,” reworking her ethereal vocal into one thing uncooked and reflective.
Wayne’s at all times had a expertise for balancing road realities with real emotion, and this observe reveals a unique facet to the North London artist.
The manufacturing sits in that moody house between introspection and depth. All through the observe, Wayne unpacks the false guarantees of street life: buddies who disappear once you’re locked up, the paranoia that comes with success, the burden of watching youthful relations get pulled into the identical cycle.
Traces about his mom crying, about attempting to avoid wasting his youthful brother from a path he is aware of too effectively, hit totally different.
The visible hammers dwelling this attitude shift. The video assessment captures Wayne surrounded by luxurious trappings he’s earned by the music, however there’s a weariness in the way it’s shot.
From the place he’s standing now, perched at a top most from his ends by no means attain, he’s bought the stripes and the scars to cross on data.
You see him in designer garms, costly whips, the complete works, however the supply makes it clear this stuff got here at a value. It’s a person who’s learnt from errors telling youthful ones the streets offered them a fable.
What makes this work is how Wayne retains it measured. He’s not shouting or posturing, simply laying out uncomfortable truths over a manufacturing that offers him house to breathe.
The Billie Eilish pattern may’ve been gimmicky, nevertheless it’s deployed cleverly, her refrains punctuating Wayne’s bars like a conscience he can’t shake.
For these following Wayne’s trajectory, “Streets A Lie” marks real development from the artist.
