"The Game Needs Us" delivers a tight tracklist with great Afrobeat production, per usual, by Sarz, and pulled together by catchy vocal performances from BNXN. The joint EP provides some breezy, light melodic Afrobeats to enjoy in the summer, and not much more than that.
Rick Rubin has committed crimes against humanity for letting Julian use this fuckass autotune. This song would probably be pretty great if the processing wasn't cranked up to 11 due to the other bandmates picking up the slack and creating a decent instrumental. This makes me feel slightly more optimistic for the album after how derivative the instrumental for "Going Shopping" was, but I am worried about how this album will turn out the more that I hear.
The electro-pop/hyperpop/y2k EDM (whatever term resonates best with you) resurgence of 2025-2026 continues with a stunning project from Underscores, simply named "U". Everything about this album is great. The singing, an aspect of this genre that can oftentimes be undercooked, is superb. The production includes a breathtaking mix of harsh EDM sounds and analog instruments, creating catchy melodies while still being fresh and unique to this project. There were multiple instrumental and ... read more