Single Review: Femtanyl - "MIX. 02 - BOTHERED!"

02:54 GMT - 23/02/2025

I’ve been pretty open about my love for Canadian producer Femtanyl (I considered myself a fan before she became omnipresent on Twitter, so I consider myself a little ahead of the curve in that regard), & she sounds fresh as ever in this latest single of hers. I’d expressed some concern in my otherwise-positive review of her most recent EP REACTOR that she might be falling into a somewhat predictable path & becoming a purveyor of what I like to call “musical fast food” (a concept I’ve brought up once or twice that I’ll probably elaborate on in a future article). Thankfully, however, this track has largely assuaged those (admittedly minor) fears.

The track is built around a nice rave stab melody that largely remains consistent while the percussion groove regularly shifts. I think this is a pretty good way of keeping the track consistent enough for people to dance to (& for the vocals to shine) while stopping the beat from getting stale as the song goes on.

The vocals in this song are far less processed than they normally are, which is a nice change of pace (not that I’ve got an issue with her standard vocal style). It’s also kinda needed because it’s a slightly more straightforward hip-hop track & the focus is largely on the rapping. I’m gonna assume that, rather like the previous “Mix” song Femtanyl’s put out, it’s a repurposed acapella of an existing song by some other artist (though MIX. 01 - PICKMEUP! used multiple tracks as vocal sources instead of just the one), though I can’t say I’m familiar with it & I can’t seem to find anything saying who it is. The vocals are standard braggadocio, nothing particularly profound, but I must admit there’s a certain charm to them (I find myself repeating the hook out loud to myself sometimes even now LMAO). All in all, I’d say it’s a nice little side-track for Noelle to flex her production chops while we all wait for her next EP (or maybe even an album, who knows!).

Quick note: Yes, I've decided that from now on, I'm going to try & tackle my procrastination & work on reviewing new releases & the like (even if it's just a quick review like this one) in order to try & build up my music criticism chops, as both listening to music & talking about music are hobbies I enjoy greatly.