Sam Fang
Qveen Herby is an artist that has been pushing the bounds of the music industry ever since she first gained traction as the vocalist for Karmin way back in 2012. After Karmin’s hiatus in 2017, she rebranded herself with her Qveen Herby solo project, re-emerging onto the scene with amazing R&B and hip hop influences inspiring her music and leading to infectious songs like “Sade In The 90s”, “Mozart”, “Sugar Daddy” and “Vitamins“.
Qveen Herby has always been a ‘singles’ artist — her primary push and focus is on releasing catchy songs by themselves and then packaging them in EP collections. She’s only released one studio album (2021’s A Woman), but has released over ten EPs including the Halloween themed HALLOQVEEN. Hverby’s ability to capture amazing melodies and create hooks that will stay inside your head for years is one of her strengths — but her latest effort, ‘RIP’ is an unfortunately lazy attempt that meanders all over the place rather than ever feeling like a cohesive track.
Herby’s high-pitched shrieking on the chorus is perhaps the most disappointing part of the entire track — reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard, surely there had to be a better take to use for one of the song’s most important elements. The verses of RIP are sharp and tight, in signature Qveen Herby fashion, with her wordplay and clever double entendres always being one of her strongest suits. As she sings about personal growth and rebirth, the song’s lyrics keep the mood light and fun.
‘RIP’ releasing around Halloween time feels intentional, but the song’s production gives anything but ooky spooky; like the grating chorus, the song’s instrumental also is all over the place, pushing the bounds of experimentation a tad too far. It’s better to swing big and miss than to not swing at all — but Herby unfortunately does not score a knock out when it comes to ‘RIP’s instrumental.
The accompanying music video for the track feels equally lazy, with it being a single scene depicting Herby in a room with white walls and red carpet singing on the mic. It feels more fitting for a live performance type video rather than an official clip for the song, but the YouTube video’s description marks it as “the official video” for the track.
Granted, Qveen Herby’s music videos don’t require elaborate theatrics or storylines to get their point across. Last year’s video for ‘Thank Goddess‘, for example, manages to feel more elevated and polished than ‘RIP’; it follows a similar format with Herby singing on a microphone in a single room, but her outfit is more cohesive to the background — which is not a plain white room, giving the visuals some depth and eye candy.
While ‘RIP’ may be a rare miss for the boundary-pushing pop rapstress, it’s highly likely that she’ll find her way back to what’s made her music so electric over the last few years. Qveen Herby’s North American tour may also give her some new inspiration for future tracks when it kicks off later this month at the House of Blues in New Orleans.
‘RIP’ is available now on all streaming platforms, and tickets for Qveen Herby’s tour are available through her official website.
Source: YouTube
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