First Impressions is people with opinions reviewing people with songs out of five. This week A$AP Rocky, Rita Ora, Billie Eilish and more face the jury.
Rita Ora - New Look
Georgia: This is a classic track from Rita. It’s empowering, radio-friendly and well-produced. It’s not the best song on Phoenix, but it’s probably one with the potential to be played to death on commercial radio. Rita deserves so much more than Australia gives her and I hope Phoenix can finally be the album that sees her taken seriously here. 3
Sam: This is my favourite of the previously unreleased songs on the Rita record. She’s a great popstar who makes mediocre pop songs great and this is an example of this. It’s a relatively simple song but she’s audibly charismatic enough to carry it across the line. 4
Billie Eilish - come out and play
Georgia: I know this was written for an Apple ad but I really like it. To be fair, I don’t think there’s any Billie tracks I haven’t liked so far, but this one is just a nice holiday track. I’m a big fan of the build in the chorus - it takes the track from a sleepy guitar number to something a bit more special. 4
Sam: She’s extremely young and doing great things so who am I to be a critic? This is really nice, verging on beautiful but I don’t really get the Billie vibe and I may never. 3
A$AP Rocky - Sundress
Georgia: I was gonna say this reminds me of Tame Impala, but after looking it up I realised that’s because it is Tame Impala. I like the direction A$AP has been taking lately. The Kid Cudi-esque vibe works for him, and I’m hoping his new album will be more of this kind of stuff. 3.5
Sam: It’s been a very confusing year for A$AP Rocky fans and he appropriately finished off the year with another sonic detour. It’s probably the most melodic Rocky song ever and I’m really into it. Rocky is becoming an alternative rockstar right in front of our eyes and I could actually get used to it. 4
Sam Bluer - Bite My Tongue
Georgia: Sam Bluer has only released three tracks so far, but they’ve all been hits. This track has a Troye Sivan feel to it, and I can see it absolutely blowing up in the next few weeks. Very keen to see what he gets up to in 2019. 4
Sam: Sam is very obviously the best new male popstar in the country right now and even though the ARIAs don’t recognise that just yet, we’re going to here. He gets all my awards for this sweaty, tense pop song that houses my favourite chorus from him yet. 4
Tommy Cash - X Ray
Georgia: I was unsure about this at first, especially when I heard the Scatman scat around 13 seconds in. By the end though, I was super into it. It reminds me of those 90s club compilation CDs where you never really knew what was coming next. ‘X-Ray’ could easily be split into three or four different songs, but instead it’s a fun mix of old-school electronica. 3
Sam: There have been many strange PC Music releases but perhaps none as strange as this one. It’s absolutely bonkers. It’s disjointed, indistinguishable and, eh, genius. I absolutely love it. Danny L. Harle goes back to his big room, post-EDM production while Cash brings the strange without rejecting melody. 4
Daisy Maybe - The Answer (Feat. Skepta)
Georgia: This is just OK. Skepta’s lines are pretty strong, although not his best. I know they’re going for a brooding vibe but at points it often just feels boring. I can appreciate Autotune as much as the next person, but in this case it kind of seems like a waste not to use Daisy’s original vocals. 2
Sam: I feel as if they aimed for a Nelly/Kelly type duet and came close. It’s obviously a far more alternative take on the singer/rapper collaboration but it has this really alluring charm to it that harks back to those early ‘00s RnB tracks. I find Daisy Maybe’s voice really alluring and it’s also cool to hear Skepta on something more RnB-oriented.
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