TisaKorean displays his versatility and creativity
Whenever a song goes viral on a platform, it seems as if there is pressure for the artist to top the rest of their work and make it even better. The consequences that can come is the authenticity becoming lost and the artist not sticking to what their fans originally loved. Houston native, TisaKorean, doesn’t let the pressure of being viral stop his sound in his latest album, Wasteland. His debut album, A Guide to a Partying Freshman, introduced him as a fun, witty rapper with an emphasis on having a good time. Garnering over 40 million streams and inspiring one of the first viral dances of the decade, it seemed like TisaKorean was in the same spot as others, but he refuses to stay stuck.
Starting off the album is “Baddies in My City,” a very simply produced track. Here TisaKorean lets people know what he likes, what he doesn’t and what he is going to do without a care about anyone else’s opinion. “Irock (Sippin on Dat Ciroc)” features Kblast. A keyboard makes up the focus on the melody for this trap beat while TisaKorean and Kblast go back and forth about what drinking Ciroc has them feeling like. “Rocky Road” follows after and includes features from Father and YehMe2. Providing more complex EDM-esque production, they boast about women they want to pursue. “Friday Night” explains exactly what TisaKorean is going to do that night over a summery bouncy beat.
With a space sounding synth maintaining the main rhythm over the minimal production, “Go” allows more focus on TisaKorean’s vocal choices. He chooses a breathy sound for each time he says go and abrupt finishes to his phrases; almost as if he really is leaving. “Babysteps” brings forth hard horns at the forefront of the beat. Vocally, his voice is a lot deeper compared to the rest of the tracks. This song, along with two others from the album, make up the main music video for the project. Directed and edited by himself, TisaKorean invites fans into one of his wild nights. One of the tracks inside of that video is, “Sunset.” A complete 180 from the rest of the album, “Sunset” introduces TisaKorean’s autotuned soft vocals. Here, he sings to a woman who he seemed to really care about and whose words have had a strong effect on him. Definitely the most-calm track on the album, it gives the album a sense of diversity from the party vibe it boasts throughout. However, TisaKorean ends the album with “The Mop” with Kblast and Huncho Da Rockstar. The song teaches listeners and those in the party they’re talking about how to do this new dance. It seems the instructions were heard correctly, as it inspired a new dance for this generation to bust out at parties.
“The music on this project lets you hear where I’m at and where I’m going…I came up with the title ‘Wasteland.’ because I feel that’s what the project is; a ‘landfill’ of different vibes,” he says about the album. With the success of his viral song, it could have been easy to continue writing tracks incorporating instructions to a dance that would be done at a party. TisaKorean decided to be versatile and write what he thought would appeal to different people. It’s about letting everyone find something in an artist’s work that appeals to them. Wasteland. allows people into the world of TisaKorean now and what is to come in the future.
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