– Aria
I heard Jessie Reyez a couple years ago. A new song and new style in a shock title Fuck It. (Sorry Mom). It was sound effects and poetry. It was an almost-song backed by instruments. So I said That’s different and I turned round and went to sleep.
Not interested.
But I heard a few things and caught on a little. She does great eclectic with bop or hop or R&B or guitar, or some combo. A lot of it is rap or near-rap. A lot of it has a lot of Latin in it.
And she has a way with lyrics. Her parents are Colombian so she sings about being imported.
She does interviews. I looked her up.
She uses a little retro slang. They were dope. The song was really dope. The experience was dope. She describes the reaction of her elementary school teacher to something she wrote as a child: That’s dope. Really? A teacher: Hey lil girl, that’s dope.
But she’s self-aware and engaging as hell. What she says about herself makes sense. She doesn’t try to evoke emotion, but listeners get emotional, they feel it. She just sings what she experiences. She has an ugly romantic breakup and sings about betrayal and heartache. She gets sick and sings pain. A car accident? Sing a crash.
Same when she sings about social issues. It’s only as a sort of side-effect based on a personal event. Some recording manager goes beyond hitting on her for a little lovemaking, threatening her budding career unless she graces his bed. She tells him off in song that happens to be inspiring in its feminism.
Immigration the same. She sings about not belonging.
I don’t know what got her to this piece. I just like the style and power and words.
I especially like the joyful feminism here. The change ups in style are playful (Let’s pause for a pretty little moment), the very end is fun. Made me laugh.
You do want the words.