At the beginning of PinkPantheress’ new mixtape, Fancy That, the 24-year-old singer and producer has just been hit by the full force of an absurdly potent strain of weed and is starting to feel the world tilt off its axis. “Illegal” swerves straight into peak time, growing more massive and colorful as it crashes through the speakers. If the record’s first seconds are slightly disorienting, it hardly seems to register for the singer—she has to be the most poised stoned person on the planet. Pink’s voice is the cool center of the music’s raging party, beckoning us to follow as she sashays down the rabbit hole. “My name is Pink and I’m really glad to meet you,” she deadpans by way of introduction, “You’re recommended to me by some people.” From here on out she has zero intention of slowing things up.
“Illegal” begins like many of PinkPantheress’ best songs to date: musically busy, charmingly conversational, and locked into a hazy headspace conjured by vintage samples and the once and future sound of drum’n’bass. By now the producer has made a specialty out of using thundering breaks and sparkling melodies to jolt her train of thought and chart a comet’s trail out of her feelings. But unlike her past releases, Fancy That offers no daydreaming detours or moments of zoomed-out introspection. The face she puts on is easy, forthright, and effortlessly cool—she’s arrived at a point of clarity and she’s never been more ready to dance.
Initially, it might have been tempting to assume that, because her songs were so short and went viral on TikTok so easily, her work was too low-stakes and thinly sketched for sustained success. But though “PinkPantheress” began as an anonymous handle, it’s since become an undeniable signature. Her 2023 debut, Heaven Knows, polished the scrappiness of her early work into tracks that consistently managed to clear the two- and even three-minute mark. While that record yielded some undeniable gems (see the Joanna Newsom-at-the-rave lament “Ophelia” or the moony 2-step of “Mosquito”), her bite-sized approach couldn’t always hold its own at full length. Although it won’t shut down jokes about her track times, the 20-minute Fancy That is PinkPantheress’ most exciting and fully realized release yet.
Fancy That is a portal into an alternate universe where UK garage successfully crossed the Atlantic and fashion froze in 2006. But apart from the more superficial choices (the cover’s Lily Allen–inspired graphic collage, the decision to shoot the music video for “Stateside” in a JCPenney parking lot), Pink’s world-building plays out most vividly in her music. After largely forgoing samples on Heaven Knows, Fancy That is an encyclopedia of references that far exceeds stale Y2K cosplay. Subtle clues like the Panic! at the Disco strings that segue into “Tonight” or the hilarious, stoned call-and-response with a Nardo Wick sample on “Noises” are juxtaposed against some thrilling acts of appropriation. “Illegal” blazes into the mix by isolating and supercharging the synths from Underworld’s “Dark & Long (Dark Train Mix),” while “Girl Like Me” takes a Basement Jaxx sample and spins it out into a roaring speed garage banger. British dance music has caught a second life across Gen Z pop; PinkPantheress’ tour through the hardcore continuum is lived-in and substantial, bringing the legacies of producers like Sunship, Adam F, and MJ Cole into the present while strutting her own glittering new path.
Apart from garage and jungle, PinkPantheress is deeply inspired by emo, an influence heard most clearly in the bleeding-edge intensity of her songwriting. Vulnerable motifs repeat throughout her early music, like the humiliation of being caught emoting in public (“Pain,” “Just for me”), or death as a marker for a relationship’s furthest limits (“Nice to Meet You,” “Ophelia,” “Mosquito”). Though she colored in these feelings with a degree of subtlety, the metaphorical extremes exposed the youthfulness of her perspective. What’s wonderful about Fancy That is how bold and funny it is: This Pink won’t buckle under pressure or spiral when left alone. She takes romantic and everyday disappointment in glorious stride. “Stars” pulls double duty: offering a sympathetic ear to a friend who’s unlucky in love, while soundtracking her own frustration with an unreliable plug. The romantic-sounding “Romeo” is a thoroughly modern kiss-off that delivers the fatal blow with a couplet as withering as it is inclusive: “You can fall in love with boys and girls and in between/So I promise that you shouldn’t waste your time on all of me.”
Pink is equally forthright about sex and desire. It’s thrilling to hear her put Abercrombie & Fitch hotties through their paces on “Stateside,” paying her respects to Estelle and putting a sexy spin on the “special relationship” all in one go. But “Tonight” is even more impressive: a song-length come-on where the fast-paced thump mirrors a dawning sense of romantic urgency. Even if she plays the directness of a hook like “You want sex with me?/Come talk to me” for giggles, there’s an overriding sweetness that kicks the song into a higher level of feeling. She occupies the space between the bouncing, full-bodied bassline and plaintive keyboards with a plainly stated want that would be unthinkable on her introverted early releases. Having come so fully into her own, PinkPantheress still aspires to reach out to you.
