Princess Nokia-A Girl Cried Red Review
Princess Nokia, the moniker of New York musician Destiny Frasqueri, has always been a stylistic chameleon. Even considering the swathe of alternative hip hop encompassing her 2017 debut album 1992 Deluxe, the disparity between tracks such as “Bart Simpson” (draped in nostalgic, formulaic bars), “Flava” (a harsh, triplet-utilizing trap banger), and “Tomboy” (both self-deprecating and no holds barred at once) showcased her skill at reverberating outside a defined sound. While 1992 pulled from both the East Coast battle-rap scene and modern trap stylings, Nokia’s latest EP, A Girl Cried Red, is a different experience altogether.
Birthed from Frasqueri’s admiration for the sound of emo and alt rock bands such as blink-182 and Panic! at the Disco, Red has exchanged her recent rap phase for moody, melodic ballads. This isn’t a new frontier for Nokia, with her previous mixtapes Metallic Butterfly and Honeysuckle utilizing cloudy singing and minimalist vocals, but never before have her influences been as apparent. The first track, “Flowers and Rope” opens the album with simple acoustic chords and an airy drum kick, allowing Nokia’s sentiments on regret and depression to flow breezily through the track. “For the Night” is the clear highlight of the EP, with the subdued, bouncy instrumental and Frasqueri’s lightly auto-tuned singing and rapping mixing to an infectiously repayable result, similar to the depressive melodies found on recent hits like Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO TOUR Llif3” and XXXTentacion’s “Jocelyn Flores”.
The center track of the EP “Look Up Kid” is the most upbeat of the tracklist, channeling a motivational, Paramore-esque chorus (“ Look up kid/ I see your face, you are going through something/ Look up kid/ It gets better but you won’t even know it”) and fast-paced guitarwork. “Morphine” emanates of a sleeper SoundCloud hit that Trippie Redd would pen, while “At the Top” is full of humblebrags and Nokia’s internalization of clout culture. The closer “Little Angel” is both nasally and sorrowful, reminscing on dead friends and bisexuality in carefree fashion. While the entire EP only holds a 20 minute runtime, Frasqueri packs a myriad of emotions and stylistic choices meaningfully into the project.
Fans of the vibrant hip-hop displayed on 1992 may be disappointed by the change in direction Nokia executes on A Girl Cried Red, but her future plans are as mysterious as they are exciting. Red is the standout EP of 2018 so far, and a clear indicator of a realized and powerful artist over-delivering on expectations that she could care less about.
