Two years after crashing into pop stardom with an all-timer of a kiss-off in “Munch (Feelin’ U),” Ice Spice has lastly delivered her debut album: the younger Bronx rapper’s long-awaited alternative, we’re meant to know, to show she’s greater than only a viral hitmaker.
Eh, why trouble?
That’s the nonchalant vibe — and the not-inconsiderable enchantment — of “Y2K!,” on which Ice Spice spends all of 23 minutes shrugging by means of 10 songs about intercourse, competitors and the chilly calculus of infidelity: “If he’s dishonest I’m doing him worse,” she causes. “I don’t care ’trigger he did it first.”
An prompt addition to the lengthy line of nice New York Metropolis voices, Ice Spice arrived in 2022 with a blasé angle completely suited to TikTok’s bite-sized presentation. Since then she’s reached the highest 5 with PinkPantheress, gone to “Barbie World” with Nicki Minaj, scooped up 4 Grammy nods and made a bestie of a minimum of Taylor Swift. (She even shot a Dunkin’ Donuts industrial with Ben Affleck.) But she nonetheless sounds fully unimpressed on “Y2K!,” as if world movie star has turned out to be — sigh — yet one more irritation.
“All people be realizing my title,” she notes in “BB Belt.” “Simply need the cash, I don’t need the celebrity.”
What makes this method work is the best way she performs her low, talky circulation towards her producer RiotUSA’s beats, which might be icy and menacing (as in “Oh Shhh…” and “BB Belt”) or chipper and sprightly (as in “Suppose U the S— [Fart]” and “Did It First”). His vivid manufacturing is rooted in drill however pulls in traces of entice and Jersey membership; collectively he and Ice Spice know the best way to flip an offhand phrase — “Fats butt, pull my pants up” is one among them — right into a deviously catchy hook, then the best way to flip that hook right into a sort of low-boil mantra.
Along with Central Cee, Travis Scott and Gunna put in visitor appearances on “Y2K!,” whose title nods to Ice Spice’s delivery date of Jan. 1, 2000. They’re each positive, although every rapper’s bleary mumbling tends to fade into the background behind Ice Spice’s crisp displeasure.
Does “Y2K!” in the end really feel a bit slight for the way lengthy it’s taken to materialize? Positive. But the album’s throwaway high quality is definitely fairly refreshing in a 12 months lengthy on elaborately conceived pop extravaganzas similar to Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” and Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Division.” In contrast to her pal with the lengthy path of vexing exes, Ice Spice bears no discernible burden in these sneering little ditties. She’s floating on indifference.