Tiktok breakout star of 2021 Pinkpantheress recently released her highly anticipated debut album Heaven Knows, following her sensational Billboard top ten hit ‘Boy’s a Liar Pt 2’ earlier this year. With her trademark Y2K sound and rhythmic half-spoken vocals, Pinkpantheress has rebirthed a treasure trove of jittery garage beats and weighty drum and bass production reminiscent of 00s powerhouses such as Craig David and Sweet Female Attitude. After enjoying her previous projects including her 2021 EP ‘To Hell With It’, containing vibrant and catchy singles such as ‘Just for Me’ and ‘Pain’, I was excited to finally indulge in a full album of work and intrigued to see how she asserts herself as a frontrunning soloist.
The album undoubtedly has many highlights, leaving even the most critical listener unable to fault Pantheress’ snappy pop hits. Some particularly engaging musical moments can be found in the opening two tracks ‘Another Life’ featuring Nigerian rapper Rema and ‘True Romance’, kicking the album off with reams of energy and fun. Praise must be awarded for the 22 year old artist’s storytelling ability, cleverly matching her lyrics to the musical production for a pleasing and immersive listening experience. The gothic organ trill that haunts the background of ‘Another Life’ perfectly compliments the sense of finality in its lyrical content, depicting the refreshing end of a toxic relationship. This coherence is followed into ‘True Romance’, with both the cosy guitar backing and light, airy vocals encapsulating the lyrical themes of teenage boy-band obsession, even going as far as to reference McFly in the infectious, head-bopping chorus (“And everybody’s shouting out your name”). These two album openers leave listeners eager to delve deeper into this psychedelic delight.
Other enjoyable moments on the album include album’s fifth track ‘Nice To Meet You’, featuring breakout British rapper Central Cee, as well as the melancholic, gentle melodies in track eight, ‘Ophelia’, and the edgier tones of the album’s penultimate track, ‘Capable of Love’. Interestingly, ‘Nice to Meet You’ samples Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’, adding a retro glaze over what could have been a generic R&B coaster. Central Cee’s rhythmic and sharp delivery ignites the track with chart-topping potential, adding the same flair found in the pair’s earlier collaboration ‘Obsessed With You’ on the rapper’s second mixtape, ‘23’.
‘Ophelia’ feels like a point of progression for Pinkpantheress, beginning to harness her delicate vocals against much softer, melodic string backing and adding depth to her sound amongst an endless stream of buzzing basslines.
Finally, we gain true insight into her musical influences within the alternative, grungy composition in ‘Capable of Love’. The track, which draws the album to a close alongside her standout single ‘Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2’, holds a punchy zest that some of the previous tracks are missing and reflects PinkPantheress’ influences, with emo-rock royalty Hayley Williams and My Chemical Romance cited as inspirations. As a teenage emo phase graduate myself, I appreciated the playfulness of this genre swap and would enjoy seeing her experiment further in this way.
With these soaring highlights come a few stagnant lulls. While these impressive tracks hold prominance within the album, they can be lost among a catalogue of otherwise same-y garage tracks that situate themselves firmly in Pinkpantheress’ cosy lockdown comfort zone. Songs like ‘Bury Me’ featuring Kelela fell slightly flat for me, with the smooth vocals sitting clumsily over a heavy synth background. There’s also something about her autotuned falcetto that becomes sickly the deeper you get within the album, and I’d love to see her combat this through experimenting with vocal layering and harmonies to blend these tones in a much more pleasing way.
Overall, there are definitely many delights to be found within Pinkpantheress’ sugar coated bedroom pop sound, though these delicacies can leave listeners feeling rather sick when indulged in high quanitites. However, so early in the 22-year-old’s career, she must be commended for her role as both artist and producer and I believe once she journies further down her clearly correct path, she has the potential to maintain her chart-topping status for many years to come.
6/10
