INDEPENDENT SONG RELEASE: Jay Hype, “Trending Topic”

There’s a movie being played, but its projector struggles to show it. An underwater piano warbles along to a movie’s soundtrack. That’s how Jay Hype’s song “Trending Topic” starts. It’s a haunting intro.

When Ms. Hype’s vocals come in, the song snaps into focus. It’s actually not a scary a song at all. She sounds happy, like someone who knows everything she wants, like exactly everything. Twenty two-year old’s shouldn’t sound so knowledgeable.

There’s a trance-y hypno-beat layered over a distant female chorus. Ms. Hype raps fast, but remains in-step somehow with the slower beat. She’s addressing a person she has just laid eyes on, but doesn’t mind telling them how she feels about them pretty much immediately.

“Got me changing all my plans / Got me feeling like a fan / Okay, I’m just talking shit now, all right?”

Her coyness is adorable. She’s basically portraying the perfect girlfriend: “Tell me what’s bothering you, baby / Tell me what you’re trying to do / Let me know you can handle it / And if you can’t, baby, that’s cool, too / Because I’m just trying to keep it cool with you…”

Which is what life is about really. Being cool.

Though maybe not all the time: “I want to put it on you,” she sings. “I know you want to put it on me, too / So stop worrying about them bitches / Right now I’m here with you.”

So you can have anything you want, but you better not steal it from this girl. That’s cool, too.

In social media terms, a “trending topic” is a subject that experiences a temporary surge in popularity on one or more online platforms. For Ms. Hype, a trending topic is whatever happens in the moment, whatever pops inside her head.

I wish there were more hip hop songs like this.

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Tangleheads: Independent Music Reviews from New York

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