Herizen - “Troublemaker”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 6

Pairs Well With…Shygirl, Caroline Rose, Remi Wolf

Riding lines between indie pop, R&B, and hip hop, Herizen’s personable, fearless dips find times both beautiful and born of carefree fun. Her latest pair of singles is “Troublemaker”/“First Place”, the former a funky, psych pop number layered in dream pop and bedroom-vibed hip hop. “First Place” takes some similar notes but applies them with trap intensity, a fun and confident rap track blending classic and modern influences finely. Those follow Herizen’s 2018 debut record Come Over to My House, unsurprisingly a diverse record but one that finds Herizen embracing softer R&B and electro-pop tones more often than not, including heady singles “Social Jungle” and “Get High”. Herizen is a collaborator as well, both on screen with her acting debut on Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down on Netflix and in downtempo groovers “We Can Be Friends” and “Done With Love” featuring What So Not and Alsofacto respectively. Regardless, Herizen’s newest material is her strongest (expand with psych-R&B space jam “Focus” and jazzy live take on album cut “Get High”), outcomes from stretching creativity without ever losing a sense of herself. (Kevin McStravick)