Review Summary: PINK!
I am hardly an expert in the matter, but the current crop of pop stars seems to be increasingly self-aware and self-ironic in comparison to the idols of my youth. Back in the day, Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera really did feel like stars, and stars are supposed to be cold and distant, among other things. However, as the stars of today are closely followed and widely publicized on various social media, they can’t really afford to be divas and have to show their human side to the eager audience. Sabrina Carpenter, Addison Rae, or even the angelic Ariana Grande seem to be significantly more down-to-earth than their counterparts from the noughties.
However, we are talking about a record from 2013, when things were only about to change. We already had Lady Gaga, who pushed the whole concept of stardom to its overblown and ridiculous limit, where it couldn’t and shouldn’t have been taken seriously. Still, most of the artists mentioned or alluded to here were only starting their careers, and it was still a few good years before Poppy sings “If you cut me, I bleed pink.” And yet, perhaps this modest mixtape, produced by the relatively niche project Kero Kero Bonito, was one of the first heralds of future changes. The shape of pop to come, so to speak.
Indeed, the band never loses its tongue-in-cheek approach, even on seemingly self-celebratory songs like the title track. The overall hyperbolic approach to pop music serves here not as a tool of self-aggrandizement, but as an extended hand to the listener and an invitation to have fun together with Midori and the boys. Musically, the record also seems to be foreshadowing a lot of modern trends with its bubbly beats and throbbing basslines. I’d say that a lot of ideas developed here eventually found their way to mainstream pop music to be expanded upon with varying degrees of success.
But away with overarching references! Let’s look closely at the mixtape itself. Members of the band referred to it as “disjointed,” but to me it feels like a leaner and more focused version of their first LP. “Intro Bonito” is only six minutes shorter than its bigger brother, but I would argue that it is superior in several ways. To me, “Bonito Generation” focused too much on the “Schoolgirl life” topic, ultimately overdoing it more than a bit. While similar in terms of style, “Intro Bonito” offers a wider range of topics, zestier lyrics, and a more Nintendo-oriented sound. My personal favorite is the sarcastic “Babies (Are So Strange)” which goes as far as comparing human toddlers to Aliens from the eponymous movie franchise. I would also say that the songs presented here are overall catchier and sweeter than the majority of the album that followed. I would say that “Intro Bonito” is also better structured with its fitting openers, smooth interludes, and an excellent closer, “I’d Rather Sleep.”
At the same time, the mixtape retains some of the main strengths of Kero Kero Bonito, as cuteness and overblown fun meet with a willingness to experiment and insightful lyricism. Apart from the songs that I already mentioned, I would say that the great and powerful ode to gaming, “Sick Beat,” and the playful “Small Town” are unmissable, with the other songs lagging not far behind.
To sum up, this mixtape serves as a much better starting point for a new listener than the rather one-dimensional “Graduation.” So, don’t skip it, but remember that the backbone laid out here will be expanded greatly with the rock-oriented “Time ’n’ Place” and the atmospheric “Civilisation.”
