KANSAN.COM
ARTS & CULTURE
THE ARTIST BANKS. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
LOWKEY LISTENS
Every month, Lowkey Listens showcases five tracks to listen to from five different artists. For December, read about Ashley Koett, Jaden Smith, Joey Purp, Tru and more.
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
Ashley Koett — "white and red"
By now, you probably know how I feel about strings being heavily featured in songs: I love it. I only assume that Koett — who has various acoustic covers on YouTube — is playing the strings, which is a fairly consistent, dreamy riff. This is the first thing she has released via her SoundCloud, and it's much higher quality than her original work on YouTube. On this track, we get the entire sound of her voice, which sounds hesitant, but also soft and soothing.
Jaden Smith — "Erewhon"
Best line: "Why does poison always taste so damn good? / Why wasn't I able to see that there was a red fire burning inside of me?"
Ravenna Golden — "The Weather"
Best line: "I wish that I could be a little bit stronger / i wish that I could have a little bit longer"
"The Weather" is my favorite track of Golden's album, "Gone Girl Wild", which is completely produced by the HELLA collective frontman Dylan Brady. This track doesn't have a strong hip-hop influence, but has a real vintage sound with Brady's guitar riffs, especially with the distortion on the hooks, but still maintains a heavy pop influence, which is Golden's staple. The song, as well as the album as a whole, is full of down-to-earth lyrics. You can buy the track on her Bandcamp account.
This song doesn't have a title yet since it was ripped from 1234 Radio (which was also referenced in last month's Lowkey Listens). Look, I'm biased because I'm a huge Jaden Smith fan — I think he's brilliant and doesn't get enough credit for his knowledge and creativity at only 17 years old, regardless of some of his silly tweets a few years ago. This track, which was produced by 1234's Daniel Dartiste, is super wavy, with constant ups and downs throughout. Smith really owns the mic in his second verse at about 1:38. Despite the couple of "1234" drops that come in, he completely destroys it.
Best line:"Hanging out with the weirdest people/ Me and you look like we belong / bae, we're amigos."
BANKS — "Better"
Typical Banks here, which is honestly a bit disappointing. I'd really like to see her develop and step outside of her comfort zone, yet she continues to use long-winded, drawn out vocals which, at the end of the day, are boring. If you're a Banks fan, like I am, you'll enjoy the track, but there comes a point where she needs to do more. That's where she's at.
Joey Purp - "Run It Up"
Purp has been dropping quite a bit of music this year, but this is the first time I've really enjoyed what he's dropped: a prequel to his upcoming album, "iiiiiDrops." The Chicago rapper comes together with producer Dimeji Faluyi on the electronic-heavy track. That said, Purp's voice takes command on this track, especially through the verses. The production or rapping isn't anything particularly special, but the two fit together perfectly, and the transition to the hook to the second verse is quite enticing.
Best line: "Okay, these labels try to sign me for an arm and a leg / They could have my whole body, I would still be ahead"
Tru - "Jack Frost"
I'm not a huge fan of Tru's voice, but he has nice bars and he fits incredibly well on this beat, produced by Sum Total. The instrumental bangs, with multiple ebbs, flows and gaps in the beat. It's extremely intricate and is enjoyable to listen to. Before the massive beat change around two minutes in, Tru's rhymes and Sum Total's instrumental go together like peanut butter and jelly. At 53 seconds, there's some shuffling around, and at the other end of the transition is the best line of the song.
Best line:"Oh my god, way I spit got 'em asking what I'm on / Oh my god, way I spit, they just call me Jack Frost"
Column: It's OK, you don't have to hate Bieber anymore
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
Justin Bieber performs at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015, in Los Angeles.
I'm not really sure how I feel about Justin Bieber. A year ago — maybe even a few months ago — there were probably two whole people in the entire world I hated more than him. OK, so two isn't a really accurate number, but I'd imagine it was somewhere around two people.
But it was only a few months ago when it was cool to dislike Justin Bieber. His fanbade, mostly consisting of 12- to 15-year-old girls, unfortunately, grew up. He was losing his Disneylike charm with his multiple run-ins with the law. He was arrested once, according to TMZ, for driving under the influence of alcohol, marjuana and prescription drugs — the triple crown — another time for vandalism, and one last time for assault and dangerous driving, when he wrecked his ATV.
MATT SAYLES/AD
In 2014, the old Justin Bieber — you know, the one with the floppy hair that teenage girls loved — ended. And then "bad boy" Justin Bieber took over for less than a year, luckily for him. After that, he was at the brink of his career and had a decision to make:
continue down the path he was on or change.
Now he's at the end of a one-year rebringing cycle on the back of his new album, "Purpose." And in many ways, it kind of, sort of, really worked for me and for the rest of America.
I still don't love the music — pop doesn't really suit me, save for a song here and there. I regularly listen to "Where Are U Now," the crossover track with EDM superstars Skrillex and Diplo, "Sorry," the light, glassy-pop single, and the rather calming "Love Yourself."
Two of those three songs are two of the top three songs on iTunes right now, while the regular and deluxe versions of the album are also two and three, sitting just behind Adele in both categories.
But with Bieber, his maturation in his music is definitely real, and I acknowledge it. It's impressive in its own right, though it took an entire shift in production more than Bieber's talent evolving itself. It's the public relations work that has interested me in Bieber more than anything.
In 2015, only good things have come from the Justin Bieber corner. In early January, he was named the face
of Calvin Klein underwear, the same position that Mark Wahberg was in the middle of his rebrand in 1992. Then came his cameo on "The Ellen Show" in late January, when he brought her flowers and gifts, then he later released a soft-spoken video on Facebook.
"I was afraid of what people are thinking about me," Bieber
said. "I didn't want to come off arrogant or conceited, or basically how I've been acting the past year, year and a half. I'm not who I was pretending to be."
The video could not have been more obviously chopped up — a lot of public relations work — but it also kind of struck a chord with me, just as it probably did the other
five million people who saw it from his Facebook page, in addition to those who saw it elsewhere. Then he slowly released new music until "Purpose," which is topping charts.
So, yeah, I like Justin Bieber a little bit, OK?
With sleeves of tattoos and a reckless attitude, he isn't necessarily going to be able to
ever turn himself around like Wahlberg. And he's never going to be America's sweetheart like Justin Timberlake. But the ugly phase of his career is obviously behind him, and with every enjoyable song he releases my respect for him will go a tick up.
And that's kind of nice. I guess I only hate two people now.
$ \therefore $
1