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luuurien · 1 year ago

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Lil Shine - Lovesick

(PluggnB, Pop Rap, Trap)

On his latest EP, Lil Shine’s candied cloud rap throws in more rock guitars and lush orchestration, his melodic flow given a little more space to breathe. Lovesick’s playful PluggnB hasn’t changed much from his debut, but it’s the little things that make all the difference.

☆☆☆☆

Underground trap’s idiosyncrasies often make for some of the wildest listens, and that’s especially the case for Minneapolis’ Lil Shine. With dozens of singles and his SH!NE and Heavenly Ascension mixtapes establishing his presence prior to his debut album Losing Myself, his nasally vocals and sugary plugg beats had already found their sweet spot, making the album one of last year’s strangest and loveliest listens. But, like before, his music had to continue expanding, his latest mixtape Lovesick throwing rock guitars and lush orchestration, his melodic flows given a little more space to breathe while the music stays as energetic and boastful as ever. It shares all its main characteristics with Shine’s previous releases, and Lovesick is all the better for it, a second helping of Losing Myself addictive PluggnB with just enough new flavors thrown in to make it distinct and exciting to hear.

Fitting to its name, Lovesick features more romantic arrangements replete with swooning strings and warm piano leads, distorted drum programming and synth chord progressions still here but driven by a softer spirit. Mistakes opens up with a grand piano progression and gentle strings before the beat kicks in, Shine’s midtempo flow letting him slowly work out tangled feelings towards a breakup, while the title track interpolates its melody from Paramore’s Stop This Song (Lovesick Melody) (even playing a bit of the song as the song fades out) to harness some of that bitter, heartbroken pop rock energy into a hazy cloud rap cut. The obvious heavy hitter is Jeans Soaked, a massive second half highlight pushed by a winding electric guitar and triumphant horns for one of his best hooks to date (I haven’t stopped humming “I spilled wockhardt on my jeans, now my jeans soaked!” for weeks now), but the surrounding song’s lighter presence makes for a good balance, Too Much’s 8-bit synth leads and the smooth guitar solo in One Last Time subtle but lovely changes to Shine’s sound that don’t mess with the form of his songs. It’s some of the best rap this year, and all of its weirdness only makes it better. Lovesick’s playful PluggnB hasn’t changed much from his debut, but it’s the little things that make all the difference. Leaner and more diverse in its sound, it makes a wonderful follow-up to Losing Myself with some new twists, taking on the sharper edges of rock and pop punk and sprinkling it around the usual bassy 808’s and synth leads. Still tapping into the possibilities of PluggnB and how far he can stretch its limits, Lil Shine’s music continues to be as fun as ever with all the weirdness and creativity those early Soundcloud releases got so much traction from. Lovesick may be about heartbreak, but it’s the most lovable and exciting music from Lil Shine yet, bittersweet alt-rap in all the right ways.