Yaeji seemed to appear fully-formed, with no knock and no doorbell, as one of the most charismatic vocalists and producers working. Her instantly recognisable style—which reframes New York as an incorporeal and impossibly chilled place—now welcomes a full-length mixtape, WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던, to its canon.
WHAT WE DREW… carries over the melancholic humour of Yaeji’s previous releases. Lead single ‘WAKING UP DOWN’ is catchy enough that its lyrical strength is easy to overlook. Beneath the track’s propulsive veneer, the comic defeatism of Morrissey scatters the ground—heightening both the absurdity and need of dancing through your pain. And, unlike Morrissey, Yaeji seems like someone who’d be a blast to hang out with.
Perhaps this is part of the problem. Coasting on her irresistible appeal, Yaeji’s vocals are one of the few elements which don’t feel like they’ve been tweaked in the three years since EP2. Some multi-track layering and reverb on the mixtape’s title track add a fresh feeling of dreaminess—but these effects are de-emphasised, even lost, in the mix. It feels as though the producer is struggling to step from the shadow of her acclaim; innovations and fresh takes hidden behind the safe and familiar.
Some collaborations try to break the spell too—but their quality is inconsistent and at worst dire. ‘FREE INTERLUDE’ is freestyled to a fault. Lil Fayo, trenchcoat, and Sweet Pea prove it’s difficult to do “that Yaeji thing”, contributing lyrics which are neither as charming nor witty as anyone wanted them to be (except maybe “a cheech has a sturple”). The result is studio outtake material which recalls the worst of classic hip-hop skits—and, more criminally, is a waste of a great beat.
Maybe this is a limitation of the form; you can’t release a mixtape without a few collaborations. But these collaborations subtract from WHAT WE DREW… more often than they add.
These problems wouldn’t be felt as keenly without the radical changes Yaeji makes to her instrumentation. Synthesisers have a new brightness and wonderful analogue feeling; intimate and crystalline, where previously they’d have been distant and murky. Compositions are driven by chords and melodies as often as they are by beats. And sometimes, as in the breaks of ‘IN THE MIRROR 거울’, even these beats are revised, revolutionised, searching new territories.
WHAT WE DREW… has, then, one foot in the future, another stuck in the mire of the past. And you can forgive this of a mixtape—its “unofficial” status (on a major label nonetheless) meant to signify the project as throwaway, thrown-together, messy and transitional. It’s just a shame it took three years to arrive.
WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던 is available for purchase and streaming here.
Words: Andrew O’Keefe