- Sampling classic UK garage and drum & bass, the TikTok star's debut mixtape shows promise, emotional intimacy and a lot of heart.
- It makes sense that PinkPantheress found her first major audience on TikTok. Her songs are as brief, tantalizing and addictive as any viral video on the app. They're wisps of energy, feeling and rhythm, like UK club tracks condensed into a ringtone. But they also carry a lot of weight. Take "Pain," one of her first viral hits, which turns Sweet Female Attitude's UK garage mega-hit "Flowers" into a muted, wobbly shuffle, like a record playing on an old turntable that can't keep the RPMs straight.
"I expected to see you on your morning run again / I know I shouldn't be watching 'cause every time I feel the pain," she says in an irresistible cadence, telling a tale of heartbreak through small, riveting details. She fills in the gaps with "la la las," making the song as dense with melody as possible, before pulling the tempo lever all the way down for a woozy outro, all in less than two minutes. It's the kind of thing that makes you press play over and over again.
While her primary audience skews young, PinkPantheress's songs have a wide appeal: after all, so many of them are based on songs from the turn of the millennium or dance music touchstones. "I Must Apologize" samples Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman" before careening into drum & bass. It's audacious but convincing, especially with the way PinkPantheress's detached vocals float over the top. She calls it "new nostalgia," but, to me, it sounds more like hyperpop through the lens of Y2K. (Another song samples Linkin Park.)
Much has been made of the fact that PinkPantheress's earliest tracks—the songs that made her famous—were recorded all on her own, lying down in her bedroom (as every single other review will tell you). There's an intimate charm to them, with muffled atmospherics that only make sterling hooks, like the butterflies-in-your-stomach example on "Just For Me," all the sweeter.
The second half of the EP, recorded in proper studios, lacks some of the homemade charm, but it beams with a newfound confidence. The string-led trip-hop of "Nineteen"—about failing her A-levels and feeling bored with her life at such a young age—reveals even sharper songwriting, while her other big hit, "Break It Off," flips Adam F's "Circles" into a tender pop song that feels more solid around the edges.
It's telling that to hell with it is presented as a mixtape and not an album. It's short—just 21 minutes long—and split evenly between those breathy bedroom pop tracks and more polished fare. Some will prefer one over the other, but there's value and vibrancy in both. From the dazed heartache of "Pain" and the thrashing junglisms of "Noticed I Cried" to the liquid drum & bass of "Reason," she sings of heartbreak and emotions with admirable succinctness and a wisdom beyond her years. Her clever beats touch on dance music history without indulging in retromania. Her songs are brief because she can convey a world of emotion in just a few words. As such, this 21 minutes of music is among the most vital releases of the year.
Tracklist01. Pain
02. I Must Apologize
03. Last Valentines
04. Passion
05. Just For Me
06. Noticed I Cried
07. Reason
08. All My Friends Know
09. Nineteen
10. Break It Off