Slayyyteris a California-based singer whose found her lane in hypersexual pop and electronica. While she's dabbled in the sounds of hyperpop and electronica her sound is some blend of the two with more conventional pop.
Review by LAv:
Critics didn't exactly fall over themselves to praise Slayyyter's last album Troubled Paradise, but I liked it a lot. She's an impressive vocalist but really won me over was her sheer pop-star charisma. She could be sexually confident, even dominant on songs like Self Destruct and Cowboys. But she also had a more sentimental pop side to her that she was able to pull off almost as well. This album is once again torn between those two halves. But where on Troubled Paradise they worked harmoniously and consistently, on STARFUCKER they're uneven and at odds.
Slayyyter leans into her club music influences harder than even on this record and when she does it pays off brilliantly. Erotic Electronic didn't blow me away as a single but it feels like such an oasis on the album that I've fallen completely in love with it. It's among the best tracks here with a beat I didn't really give enough credit at first and a vocal performance that is far more intoxicating than it first lets on. Even though there isn't much I like about the first half of this album I do think it gets off to a strong start. I Love Hollywood is a thumping opener that sets a great vibe, it's just a shame the record isn't able to maintain it any longer.
Plastic is another song I like a LOT. It's a pulsating banger that tributes the literal plastic of implants and injections. I love its blatant vanity and pride and I can't get enough of it's full embrace of the artificial. Having a great hook helps a lot too. If you know anything about me at all you probably already know what I think of Purr since the song is basically my entire personality synthesized into a few minutes. Of course this is one of the best songs I've heard this year if you melted down my brain and injected it into a song this would be the song, it's fucking incredible.
It's not like every single time the record shifts its focus to pop it's a bad thing. The album closes with Out Of Time the lead single which I still like quite a bit. It has some of the most impressive vocals on the album and the ticking clock is a nice touch that sets up a catchy hook really well. I also like the two tracks that precede it. Girl Like Me does have a blatantly generic sentiment but it's got great pop instincts and is catchy as a result. The even better Tear Me Open comes next with a uniquely slow pace for the album that has me hanging onto Slayyyter's every word. I also think the viscera of looking someone in the eyes while they tear you over is compelling when flipped into a pop song.
Unfortunately, this album has an Achilles heel and it's tracks two through six. The sequence is full of pop songs that are about such tepid and generic subject matter that it almost feels beneath Slayyyter. Even when her songwriting isn't at its peak she's always been able to conceptualize songs in a unique way but this whole string of material serves up pretty much nothing in that department.
Miss Belladonna was a single that I had almost nothing to say about which is why I'm surprised it seems to be on the way to becoming the album's most popular song. The sentiment is painfully familiar and it completely lacks the personality that we all know Slayyyter is capable of conjuring. The closest thing to a highlight of the bunch is Memories Of You which has absolutely perfect transitions throughout the track and the pre-chorus is one of my favorite moments on the record. Even then, however, I think the bridge has some ugly application of vocal effects.
Dramatic has the best songwriting of the bunch subverting expectations by letting Slayyyter tell the man in the song he's being dramatic rather than the other way around. Unfortunately, the beat is completely forgettable and the refrains are just okay. Rhinestone Heart is a bit more earnest which could have been refreshing if the sound of the song wasn't nearly identical to the four tracks before it. The worst and most generic song of the bunch is My Body which has a strong vocal performance but nothing else going for it. Hearing Slayyyter explore the cliched feelings of warmth and proximity while dancing in a club with such little flare just doesn't feel right.
STARFUCKER is an interesting album, even when it's boring. Slayyyter seems to be making an effort at serving as a more marketable and well-rounded pop star, but the results are very mixed. When she is letting her sledgehammer personality and confrontational sexuality take point it is absolutely impossible to ignore just how great she is, but that's only half the album. The pop songs with forgettable sounds and sentiments hold this back from being as good as her previous outing. 6/10
For more pop check out my review of Kim Petras' Feed The Beast
