The Weekly Coos

In this upside-down yet heightened growth of Bedroom Pop, artists are emerging and creating something more alternative to what they made prior—later becoming indie highlights. At the point of release for PinkPantheress’s debut mixtape, to hell with it, it became clear her craft isn’t unlike the tender instrumentations developed through distinct, sometimes inoffensive drum patterns on the base layer of some electronic music. She takes influence from varying sub-genres of Electronic music, like Garage and Liquid Drum-N-Bass, allowing her vocals to feel like capitalizing on the platform the production sets up for her by rarely getting overly bloated and glitzy. It does happen once on her debut album, Heaven Knows, specifically on the track “Nice To Meet You,” which tries to balance Hip-Hop with Liquid Drum-N-Bass—basically, a more melodic version of the genre—but does little to move the needle even with a Central Cee feature that’s congruent to the topic, but still feels washed due to the verses feeling modestly generic. Unfortunately, that isn’t the only time Heaven Knows spirals down, as some of its production teetering between comparative minimalism and phenetic similarities becomes one swift listen, yet enough tracks to recommend.

Pinkpantheress isn’t just one genre, but that’s a given. Oddly, it sometimes sounds similar between tracks that it might make you think everything is just a Garage/Drum-N-Bass/Dance variation instead of seeing and seething into the crevices that make her music unique. It doesn’t take a Rema feature to open the album to give fans an intriguing opener, and as one goes from being more Electronica and Pop in “Another Life” to pure Dance-Pop in “True Romance,” and then trekking into elements of Garage-House with Samba and Jazz on “Mosquito.” It showcases this desire to come off different while still retaining a sense of identity; for Pinkpantheress, that’s her vocals, which are sobering and lowly while having immense bravado when performing, as if it’s one element one shouldn’t disregard—it’s more evident with “Bury Me” with Kelala, which has some bass heavy percussion trying to share the light; it does subtly as Pinkpantheress and Kelala’s vocals dominate any of the electronic overtures on it. It makes much of its production’s more entrancingly blissful and emotive work shine like you’re in a semi-pandoras box of contrasting notions that hit.

This sentiment remains similar to the final song, the Ice Spice collaboration “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2,” where the percussion twinkles beneath the synths and triangle in beautiful synergy, and Ice Spice’s drill-influenced flow comes and delivers a fun contrast. Like it, on the album, Pinkpantheress’s tender, sometimes melancholic vocals bring a sense of futility to some of the production as she becomes the amplification that keeps it consistently interesting. That isn’t a detriment to the production, which gets handled by Pinkpantheress and past collaborators like Mura Masa and independent producer/songwriter Oscar Scheller—it’s the beginning that delivers fully on expectations, only to temper with some reward at the end. Part of that gets attributed to Greg Kurstin’s writing and co-production, which makes use of what Mura Masa sets up and gives it a sense of life, unlike “Feel Complete,” which sounds derivative, which is a disappointment because it comes after the tremendous “Ophelia;” co-written by Danny L Harle, it focuses on letting the minimalist stylings feel like more of a balancing board aiming for bolstering the performance and writing. It comes after the equally disappointing “Internet Baby (interlude),” which was co-produced by London On Da Track, and feels like it adds nothing but a mundane drum pattern.

Much of the content on Heaven Knows is level-headed, and sometimes tepid, all while relying much on establishing emotions and other sentiments felt through varying experiences in love. It’s all fragmented into differentiating situations, bringing some lyrical creativity, especially PinkPantheress’s sense for adding detail and metaphors. It’s what keeps you attached to the journey, albeit brief. She does have some definitive highlights, though a lot comes from all cylinders attached running perfectly. Her descriptive writing adds solid brevity in its depth; it makes standouts become that, like with “Feelings,” where she writes, “Breath comes out of me, it’s my philosophy/I won’t gеt out of here, it’s the onе thing I fear,” showcasing a sense of claustrophobia and dizziness from the rapid ascension to fame. “Bury Me” is another, and much of it comes from its approach to the tug and pull one has mentally within a relationship, whether it’s emotional or intimate. Kelala adds her unique touch as a feature and outshines all but Rema, whose subtle performance adds vibrant but sobering contrast to Pantheress. The others, Central Cee and Ice Spice are forgettable, the latter more so to me as Ice Spice doesn’t offer anything interesting and goes with the flow.

I enjoyed Heaven Knows, but it’s still missing that spark to wow and take me over the edge with the music. PinkPantheress has something cooking, and eventually, it’s going to be interesting to see how she continues to follow up on this solid debut album. There will be quite a few songs you’ll love, like, or feel meh about, but it’s a fun electronica journey to take, and who knows, maybe you’ll become a fan. But as of now, it’s just something there that’s good, not great, and I may find myself returning more based on mood, as it is a little low comparatively. Give it a shot, and let me know what you think!