LAST YEAR WAS WEIRD, VOL.3: ALBUM REVIEW
It seems like Tkay Maidza has spent the last several years blowing up. With every new project, she has been poised to become the biggest star in the world. But, while the music has been there, the superstardom has not quite yet come. In the past few years she has popped up on EDM tracks, been all over TikTok, and linked up with some of the most famous voices in hip-hop. Maidza has improved with each project and continually pushes her sound to new extremes. On her newest project, titled Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3, she both leans into the bangers that carried her last project and evolves into a more multifaceted artist. Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 could be the album that carries Maidza into the limelight.
On this project Tkay Maidza dabbles in a lot of different styles and executes each to perfection. The music is extremely tight and organized, but stylistically, the project is all over the place in the best way. On tracks like “Cashmere” we get to hear the extent of Tkay’s melodic talents, while other songs like “Syrup” are entirely rapped. This alternation gives the album a jagged texture. We never get to feel comfortable or just lay back and vibe. The album is always speeding 100 miles per hour down a road at midnight.
Tkay Maidza slips between singing and rapping with a remarkable ease. On the single “Cashmere” Tkay begins with a whispy flow, spitting bars about her feelings about how she has grown as a person, before launching into interweaving melodies that take up most of the rest of the track. Maidza strikes a gentle balance on this project, most of the time it’s hard to even describe her performance as rapping or singing. Her voice just alternates between acting as a melodic and percussive instrument, adding to the variety of instrumentals she flows over.
Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3 introduces sampling and layering in a way that adds a lot to Maidza’s style. The songs “High Beams” and “Eden” especially highlight this dynamic. On “High Beams” we hear a deep choral sample that you might’ve found some mid-2010s rapper flowing over a couple of years ago, but Tkay takes this sample and instrumental and flips it into a wild hook where her vocals seem to drop from the sky, and a choir pops up every once-in-awhile to give her voice a powerful strength. On “Eden,” Tkay flows over a soul sample, which feels completely out of place at first; but with time, she settles into the beat and creates melodies that match the sample.
The project is most powerful when Tkay embraces her darker side. Tracks like “Syrup” and “Kim” bring out a darker energy that echoes the vibe of tracks like “AWAKE” from her last album. The 808s and darker synths unlock a new dimension for Maidza where her voice brings a bit more power than expected. Lines like “I’ll take the cake and the kitchen knife” stick in your head for hours, and more importantly are the type of lines that you can hear an entire crowd chanting at a show.
Tkay has proven herself to be consistent and her sound continues to evolve on Last Year Was Weird Vol. 3. This is a perfectly executed album of bangers that proves Maidza will be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.