Song of the Week delves into the new songs we just can’t get out of our heads. Find these tracks and more in our Spotify Top Songs playlist, and for our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Kaytranada, Aminé, and Pharrell bring us a fruitful collaboration.
Kaytranada’s first original single of 2023 has arrived under the Kaytraminé banner, marking a larger project between Grammy Award winner and West Coast MC Aminé. For their first show, they brought out Pharrell Williams for the effortlessly cool “4EVA,” a track that plays to the strengths of all three artists.
Like many of Kaytranada’s irresistible concoctions, “4EVA” is rooted in a percussive beat, busy enough to bounce off Aminé’s cool bars but sparse enough to allow the song’s buoyant line to shine through. Meanwhile, Pharrell lends his hand to the song’s production and sings a plaintive chorus, his usual light-hearted voice blending perfectly with the track’s hazy atmosphere.
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In their solo work, all three artists seem to revolve around a similar kind of groove — ethereal funk, sticky hooks, cymbals and heavy beats with sparks of added percussion, turbulent basslines, and chord changes that suggest subtle wonder. “4EVA,” then, finds these three artists feeling right at home. Aminah especially shines on the track, considering he delivers two tracks between Pharrell’s light notes. It channels as much romance as possible without losing its elegant essence.
“If I say, ‘I love you,’ that bullshit is what I mean,” he says in the first verse, doubling down on the lines of romantic commitment later as “my everlasting forever, I can’t let anything in between.” Although the general theme is For the eternal promise is sweet, yet Aminé doesn’t sacrifice a sense of humor—his dirty second verse knows reading with cheeky lines about sex, and finds the rapper taking his confidence levels to winning levels.
In fact, confidence is a great general characteristic of “4EVA”. Each component fits seamlessly into the others; Even Pharrell’s chopped chorus vocals and mellow vocals blend with the song’s hazy glow. It’s almost surprising that the track is barely over three minutes long — but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to keep it on the “4EVA” episode.
Paolo Ragusa
Associate Editor
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