By Reece Jamison, Executive staff
Hello all. Welcome back to my section of the paper. I am spring partied the heck out. On this rainy Sunday, as I chug water and nurse my left knee that is a source of excruciating pain, I am very much in the mood to sit in The Purple office and meditate on music. So, today, I will review J. Cole’s new track, “ATM,” and Anne-Marie’s, “2002.”
This week saw the release of Jermaine Lamarr Cole’s (J. Cole) fifth album, KOD. For those who are not fam…who am I kidding? J. Cole is a writer, producer, philanthropist, and has been making waves since the release of his first mixtape, The Come Up, in 2007.
The North Carolina rapper over the span of his career has seen great success, considering every release he has put out has been certified platinum by the RIAA. Over the years, Cole has produced some praiseworthy hits that impacted a generation of hip-hop addicted listeners across the globe, but in terms of the quality of his discography, Cole is inconsistent.
As a rapper, Cole seeds in his verses pithy lines of deeply philosophical questions and statements and then undercuts their relevance by inserting lines about all of the women he has slept with or the money he is making and so on. J. Cole strives to present himself as a deeply introspective and serious artist, and at the same time has silly throw away lines and half-baked ideas. “ATM,” having a video released on the same day as the release of KOD, is seemingly the lead single for the album.
The track has a soft, haunting piano sample at its core, accompanied by a crunchy drum beat featuring typical 808 stock instruments like a wooden block, snare, muddied high-hats, and maraca shakers. Lyrically, Cole really just talks about fame and his worries about becoming irrelevant.
If you go through line by line, in typical Cole fashion, he has a couple poetic lines and a bunch of cheese in between. It’s an alright track that matches the sort of screwed, eerie, and odd sound of the rest of the album.
Anne-Marie is an english singer/songwriter, karate master, and a potential powerhouse in the world of pop music. Hailing from East Tilbury, Essex, she cut her first single, “Summer Girl,” with Rocket Records in 2013. After some features and even a brief stint with the band Rudimental, Anne-Marie released her debut EP, Karate, in April of 2015.
Her first album, Speak Your Mind, will release on 27 April and the single “2002” is a easy going pop hit that will most likely find its way on the airwaves this summer. It is a typical, bright, electronic pop song with acoustic guitar melody, snaps, huge synths, and soaring atmosphere. Anne-Marie talks about her childhood, reminiscing about hanging out with her friends, singing and dancing in the woods. I myself am not a huge fan of this type of production; it’s boring, but festival goers and pop enthused teenagers alike will certainly wear this track out in the coming summer of 2018.
I will continue to listen to KOD and form my opinions. Do not hesitate to stop me in public and have a full on discussion about Cole, I have a lot of feelings. Cannot wait to watch Anne-Marie’s career as well. She shows much promise. Ok, my brain is done. Adieu!