RCA Records (inscription)
08 December 2023 (released)
2 d
For a 20-year-old woman, McRae has clearly experienced her fair share of drama, both platonic and romantic, if, of course, we take her lyrics as “bible.” The album's opening anthem, the female anthem, 'cut my hair', stays true to the bass-heavy nature of RnB music and lyrically describes Tate's desire to prove to a potential flame that she's a better fit than her female peers – referring to the well girls as “overrated”. McRae successfully keeps her listeners engaged as we move into the second track, the TikTok viral smash, 'Greedy'. Accompanied by an instantly recognizable melody and heavy radio play, 'Greedy' needs no explanation. The third track, 'run for the hills', the first song McRae co-wrote for the project, is the sonic embodiment of 'breadcrumbing'. Everyone knows how hard it is to emotionally let go of someone who gives you enough attention to keep you interested, but not enough to build a relationship and McRae, using lyrics like “don't mind me, then hold me close.” like it's easy when you know it could never be us' perfectly encapsulates the sentiment in an inevitably catchy modern pop song. The fourth song, 'hut my feelings', like many other tracks on the album, lyrically describes a typical relationship angst accompanied by a great hip-hop edge.
Then we witness a change of pace. Tracks 5 and 6, 'trave' and 'stay done' respectively, are the ballads of the project and arguably represent McRae's effortless ability to transition between genres without overdoing herself. “Exes,” the seventh song and second single released from the album, is far less lyrically profound than its predecessors, but instead shows Tate's fun side and her desire to trivialize, in a non-malicious way, the variable nature of her attitudes and affections towards certain exes. “We don't look alike”, “Calgary” and “Messier” soon follow, before finally giving us the album's title track, “think later”. This, without a doubt, is the project's strongest feature, an opinion I credit primarily to that completely unexpected bass line of MIA's 'Bad Girls' that reverberates throughout the track, but perhaps most noticeable in the intro, as well as this flawless encapsulating fans of the inspired, mid-tempo hip-hop Tate experimented with. “Guilty conscience”, the album's 12th track, pays homage to the lyrically repetitive yet equally infectious pop melodies of McRae's early discography, before we witness another change of pace with tracks 13 and 14, “wit that too” and “plastic palm trees” respectively. The departure from career beats and synths to a more indie-pop-driven composition for the album tracks again showcases Tate's versatile artistry.
A really strong record and such an undeniable evolution from her debut, I have no hesitation in giving this album five stars!