The music world has a lot to thank from the popular social media app TikTok. One of the many talented artists to rise from the app is UK artist Pink Pantheress. Influenced by the likes of Aj Tracey, Paramore, and sounds of Y2K, Pink Pantheress has mixed them all into a sonically pleasing album. Hailing from Bath, England, she introduced a sound that is not typical to most of her American listeners.
In an interview with Triple J she said: “I’m thankful that I was able to introduce a lot of people to a genre that we [Brits] all know and love, because where we’re from we’ve heard it all the time. Growing up and hearing our favourite artists doing DnB and jungle, going to sets and hearing it at parties.”
The album, titled to hell with it, consists of 10 songs, four of them released previously, with an addition of a few being released on Soundcloud as well. My favorite tracks from this album are “Pain,” “I must apologize,” and “last valentines.”
“Pain” which is the introduction to this EP, starts with a simple melodic beat. The only sound you truly hear are some repeating chords and some drum kicks. As the song progresses they start to almost decompose and die to follow the lyrics. Like many songs, this starts and ends quickly with only having two very short verses.
“I must apologize” is filled with a fun and adventurous sounding beat. The mixing sounds as if you’re racing through a Mario Kart track. This song is mixed along with plenty of fun and interesting sound effects to create an entertaining song. The lyrics do not follow the same beat however. In this song, Pink Pantheress opens up and writes down her mistakes in a letter, apologizing for them all from lying to paranoia.
The next song has my favorite sample of the entire mixtape using Mike Shinoda’s Linkin Park sample. Titled “Last valentines,” she kicks the track off with an effect imitating the classic drummer count off. Just like the previous songs, the chords and beat feels simple and easy to follow and just as fast paced. This use of the Linkin Park guitar sound creates a much more reminiscent and sadder song, but it fits perfectly.
Pink Pantheress' album is filled with fun short songs that are all amazingly produced. Even the lyrics, however short they may be, fit the beat well. The potential this artist has is strong and has quickly drawn fans from her Y2K aesthetic, jungle beats, and that a black artist is slowly becoming the face of pop. She has already been cosigned and recognized by plenty of well known artists so it is only up from here. This album is fun to listen to but is way too short. I give it an 8 out of 10.
