Some say that, when King Arthur pulled Excalibur from the stone, it marked him as the sovereign ruler of Britain. It’s hard not to feel the same way about PinkPantheress when she samples Underworld’s “Dark & Long” or “Romeo” by Basement Jaxx, or lets out a “Wow, wow, wow!” at the end of her surprise summer hit “Illegal” like she’s the second coming of Cassie from Skins. Pink, along with Oasis and Olivia Dean, has made British identity chic again this year, maybe for the first time since Alexa Chung released her iconic It book more than a decade ago. If you need proof, listen to Bladee’s verse on his new remix of Pink’s “Stateside,” in which the Swedish musician shouts out regions of the UK like he’s DJ Pharris dropping Chicago references on “Cold:” Midlands, Highlands, Sussex, Yorkshire, Croydon, Knightsbridge…
Such is Pink’s power: Since releasing her second mixtape, Fancy That, in May, the 24-year-old has proven she has a preternatural ability to make the most outré-normie references feel like they’re on the bleeding edge of cool. Her Glastonbury set was introduced by Louis Theroux and possessed what my friend described as a “Britain’s Got Talent aesthetic,” and it was one of the festival’s best. Fans affectionately read Pink’s style, but none of them have a bag collaboration with Diane V and Dover Street Market, do they? Fancy Some More?, Pink’s new Fancy That remix project, doesn’t have the ultraconceptual bent of Charli XCX’s Brat remix project from last year, but it moves with the same swagger: Like, who else would have the cheek, ingenuity, and clout to gather all these people under one roof?
Fancy Some More?’s remixes are split into two discs, one featuring vocalists and the other producers. (The release also includes a third disc, featuring the original tape.) Scanning the guest list is, I imagine, what it’s like to flick through Pink’s iPod. On the vocalist side, you have K-pop stars (SEVENTEEN and Yves from LOONA) alt-pop it girls (Oklou, Rachel Chinouriri, Ravyn Lenae, Bladee), and centrist stars with underground clout (Zara Larsson, JADE, Kylie Minogue, JT, Sugababes). The producer disc mostly features artists who bore clear influence on Fancy That (Basement Jaxx, Groove Armada, Joe Goddard) alongside upstart locals (Nia Archives, Leod, Kilimanjaro) and also Kaytranada, seemingly kept on retainer by the major labels for any remixing needs. The project is rounded out by a coterie of Brazilians—Anitta, DJ Caio Prince, Adame DJ, and Mochakk—which, with any luck, signals the sound of future PinkPantheress music.
The vast majority of these remixes totally bang, and many of them serve the function of wish fulfillment. Have you (like me) ever wanted “Illegal” to feel even faster and more disorienting? Nia Archives, London’s premiere young junglist, makes the whole song feel like a 90-degree drop on a rollercoaster. Have you been scouring SoundCloud for a mashup of “Stateside” with its spiritual forebear, Kylie Minogue’s “Slow”? Here’s la grand dame herself whispering “Are you ready for me?” and eliciting goosebumps when she sings “Never met an Aussie girl, you say.” The sky seems to crack wide open when the Sugababes drop into “Nice to Know You” and provide a hi-fi rendition of the hook Pink sampled on the original version of the track.
The most effective remixes flip the original songs on their head: Basement Jaxx turn “Tonight,” one of the least dance-forward tracks on Fancy That, into a throbbing, shimmery big-room banger, its five-minute runtime practically begging for a 12” version. Meanwhile, Caio Prince and Adame traverse baile funk, Miami bass, and fight-ready big beat on their flip of the previously lightweight “Stars.” Oklou drags the Basement Jaxx sample on “Girl Like Me” as far out of its original context as she can take it, making the liberated refrain of “Let it all go” sound less like dancefloor hedonism and more like a desperate attempt to get over a lingering heartbreak.
With the exception of Kaytranada’s “Girl Like Me”—which sounds roughly the same as every other Kaytranada remix in recent memory—it feels like all these tracks were made with a level of care uncommon for a major label remix album, which so often feel easy cash grabs or attempts to prolong an album cycle that’s running out of steam. Fancy Some More? feels like a rowdy, well-earned celebration and reaffirms the main ideas PinkPantheress has gestured toward for much of the year: Heavy reference doesn’t inherently go hand-in-hand with a lack of ingenuity. Successive generations of dance producers don’t have to be at war with each other. Pop music, done right, can feel like the key to a world that's smarter, more free, and way more fun.
