Where did all the pandemic-era bedroom pop artists go? Call it Stockholm Syndrome, but recently I’ve gotten a little nostalgic for a bygone time where every third TikTok I got was of yet another overall-clad kid with a $20 ukulele, asking the audience, “did I just write the song of the summer?” Most of them didn’t, but a select few actually did—including, of course, PinkPanthress.
Of those breakout stars, I think it’s fair to say that a good plurality have left the bedroom. Maybe that plurality includes PinkPanthress, too. Released on Friday, May 9, her second mixtape, “Fancy That,” certainly isn’t a huge departure from her previous sound. It sticks true to her drum ‘n bass (DnB) roots while serving as a more elevated, cohesive experience than her older projects. I wouldn’t call it a standout, but it’s undeniably solid and by no means uninteresting. Yet while I think PinkPanthress has remained true to her original sound, I don’t think she’s stuck to her original spirit. “Fancy That” isn’t bedroom pop at all. It lacks the rawness and curious nature that are fundamental to a genre defined by introspective lyrics and do-it-yourself production. It is polished on the surface, but underneath, there are growing pains and the slight staleness of stagnancy.
To me, what made PinkPanthress such a compelling artist in the beginning was how rich and sure her sounds were. A lot of “artists” are nothing more than pretty faces with a team of ghostwriters and choreographers behind them (Gracie Abrams). But every once in a while, you’ll come across someone who clearly holds a lot of respect for the craft of music, knows the history of the genre they are trying to emulate and has a genuine vision for their career and musical evolution. This was PinkPanthress. Everything about her stood out, from the way she enunciated her lyrics, to the way she was unafraid to sample anything and everything.
Her production on “Fancy That” is tight. PinkPantheress’ vocal tone blends and melds with the backing track without it all sounding muddy. Individual elements are distinct, yet together, everything feels cohesive. A particular standout to me is “Girl Like Me.” The layers of PinkPantheress’ vocals peel apart on the chorus. There’s whispering, screaming and singing all at once, set to a rubbery untz-untz that’s fast paced and never lets you catch your breath. There’s a lot going on in the track, and it does sound busy in an overwhelming sort of way, but I find it more “maximalist” than “bohemian.”
Part of PinkPantheress’ initial virality was good timing. Part of it was the rock-solid music. Another part of it was her willingness to be vulnerable. In between the glitzy hooks and deeply infectious beats of her debut mixtape, PinkPanthress spends her lyrical space confessing. There are a lot of examples my mind jumps towards, but my favorite has to be the opening bars of “All My Friends Know.” There, PinkPantheress sings “Did you ever want me?/No worries if not.” It’s succinct, frank and just so understandably desperate that you can’t help but root for her.
“Fancy That” isn’t not confessional, but it’s a much more casual type of confession. Think of the difference between your friend telling you about a particularly juicy night out while you’re shopping together versus your friend sobbing to you over the phone at 3 a.m. about being dumped by the talking stage (early stage of relationship, not official) she was weirdly obsessed with. I don’t think it’s an inherent negative that PinkPanthress’ life is stable enough that she doesn’t feel the need to use her music as a diary anymore. However, it makes “Fancy That” feel much less intimate. There is a wall between PinkPanthress and the audience she sings to that wasn’t there before. Whereas her earlier lyrics (“One day, I just wanna hear you say, ‘I like you’/What’s stopping you?” from “Break It Off,” the last track of “To Hell With It”) felt unfiltered and spontaneous, her statements in“Fancy That” feel more guarded, censored (“A million things I can say, but baby, I’ll wait some longer” feature on verse one of “Tonight,” the third track of “Fancy That”). It makes me wonder if becoming more reserved is simply a natural evolution as an artist matures. Does it have to be this way?
To be perfectly honest though, I’m not sure how much PinkPanthress has actually evolved as an artist since her debut with “To hell with it.” Her 2023 album, “Heaven Knows,” was much more exploratory, but not quite honest. Her songs were longer, flatter and contained less of her signature DnB/hyperpop/jungle influences. “Fancy That” is more of a return to her roots, with shorter and more hyper songs, but the eight songs featured on the mixtape all sounded distressingly similar. Sure, they were different from the mainstream, but not from one another. In that regard, she’s actually regressed since her “Heaven Knows” era. That album might have been slightly boring, but at least you could tell the songs apart and name them.
I am by no means worried for PinkPanthress or suggesting that her current career trajectory is lacking, but I do think she needs to find a balance between diving further into her niche and branching out/experimenting. “Heaven Knows” deviates too much from her sound, while “Fancy That” doesn’t deviate enough. I would argue, too, that PinkPanthress needs to hone in on her diary-like style and bedroom pop roots. Make your songs feel like a door-closed gossip session, Pink! That is what made them special to begin with, and that is what will keep them distinct from all the other electro-hyperpop artists milling around in the mainstream in this post-Brat era.
