Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s music pick is one of 2023’s best LPs, a confident, lush statement announcing a budding star's arrival.
Genre: Pop, R&B
Label: Interscope
Release Date: June 9, 2023
Vibe: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
As I listened to Fountain Baby, I was reminded multiple times of Beyoncé’s instant classic Renaissance. Both records have the kind of confidence you need to hold a candle to the lavish instrumentation present on both records. Both overflow with the mischievous fun and personal stakes that come with being hot, rich, and ready to give in to their best/worst impulses. That said, the main difference here is Bey is a veteran who’s taken years to get to that point musically. Amaarae is still a relative unknown, though, after this record takes a spin around the global club soundtrack circuit, I doubt that’ll be the case for much longer.
What makes this record such a standout pop music text is its variety. There’s truly something here for everyone, from the syncopated “Co-Star” to the funk-fueled “Angels in Tibet” to the softer, subtler “Aquamarie Luvs Ecstasy.” Throughout, Amaarae never lets her observations devolve into tired I’m-that-B tropes, preferring to couch her true feelings in the sultriest of nihilism, mainly when directed at lovers past and present. As a result, there’s an inescapable joy simmering underneath every breathless transition from R&B to hip-hop to Afropop and back again.
It’s an exceptional outing from an artist we’ll surely see enter A-list pop circles in short order.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈
Got thoughts on this album? Did you love it? Sound off in the comments.