ALBUM REVIEW: PinkPantheress - Fancy That
No skips required.
In the day and age of TikTok sensations, it takes a certain something for the app’s sensations to stick around. What exactly is it that’ll get users to stick on a video for more than five seconds before swiping to the next thing? In the last few years, PinkPantheress has found what that is with sticky dance beats and lovesick croons. It’s nothing new, but her touch for infectious rhythms has earned her quite the following. Her new mixtape is perhaps the clearest vision into her mainstream appeal. Fancy That is a brisk, catchy affair that’s done before you know it, but not before making you groove the night away.
Any good mixtape has to have a great flow, and from the beginning of Fancy That, the pacing is fantastic. The first four tracks glisten with energy, flowing into one another with ease. “Tonight” and “Stars” have a particularly nice bridge; the cries of “flash!” on the latter track call to mind a K-pop group’s vocal tag. She’s at her playful best on “Stateside”, riding the cultural divide between her American fanbase and her British origins. The final four songs post-interlude don’t flow together quite as well as the first four, but still mine 90’s and 2000’s Eurobeat to full effect. The love and respect for the classics is apparent; you’ll hear Panic at the Disco! and more get sampled, but this is very much its own project.
Fancy That keeps itself straightforward at all times, and that’s what makes it fun. It’s a speed drive of catchy beats that PinkPantheress has mastered the art of, and at just 20 minutes, the party concludes before you know it. But that’s more than enough time to show that she’s much more than just “Boys a liar Pt. 2”; she’s earned her bona fide star status. Whether these tracks are heard through singular videos or together in full, they get the party plenty started, or will at least get you to stop down on the TikTok video you heard them on.
Verdict: 7.7/10
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