"They don't know the struggles that she was raised with... so shut the fuck up," Syd tha Kyd sang last year on "She DGAF" with the sort of middle-finger-up irreverence often found in the music of her crew Odd Future. It was one of the few moments on the Internet's Purple Naked Ladies where you could draw a direct line from the bubbling neo-soul of Syd and Matt Martians to the rest of Odd Future. Outside of a few appearances from Left Brain and Mike G-- the latter of which Syd has produced for in the past-- Purple Naked Ladies felt largely disconnected from the entire OFWGKTA oeuvre, the controversial collective mentioned more out of obligation than because of any musical or ideological kinship. On their sophomore album, Feel Good, the Internet continue along this path, sharpening their songwriting and slowly reigning in their propensity to wander.
The biggest leap forward is made by Syd herself-- where in the past she would sometimes disappear into her surroundings she now takes center stage with confidence, her down pillow-soft vocals claiming the spotlight with an easy swagger. Her voice is still a delicate thing that sounds like it could blow away given the right gust, but it's able to pull off things it wasn't capable of before: the sensual come-ons of "Don'tcha" require a self-assurance Syd hadn't quite developed yet on Purple Naked Ladies, and she injects "Shadow Dance" with a been-here-before poise of someone at least a decade her senior.
She's writing hookier songs, too. "Sunset" unfurls with precision, moments of interest arriving at a steady and consistent clip, whether it's a switch-up in the track's loping groove or a colorful melodic run from Syd. Elsewhere, "Runnin'" finds its sweet spot early on and then spends the rest of its duration playing around with the angle and strength of the light being shone at it. And although the Internet are still interested primarily in fusing the proggier elements of experimental jazz with the patient warmth of neo-soul, there are fewer moments here that'll have you glancing at your watch, an occurrence that happened a little too often on their debut.
But while Feel Good finds the Internet latching onto hooks with greater frequency, they haven't completely excised their tendency to meander into jam session territory where the music loses most of the direction. The album is never aimless-- they always succeed in setting a pleasant, vibe-heavy atmosphere where detours are allowed and exploration is encouraged-- but at times it does feel like the Internet still haven't figured out how to identify what to keep and what to leave out.
There's a proficiency at work on Feel Good that's undeniably impressive-- it's an album full of musicians who can play and they approach this stuff with an endearing alacrity and a willingness to let Syd do more this time around that will pay dividends on future records. She's still got room to improve where lyrics are concerned, with generic clunkers such as "I'm a fiend for your attention" and "You're beautiful, you brighten up my day" exposing her as the fresh-faced 21-year-old she is. But an incremental improvement is still improvement, and Feel Good makes a good case that Syd, like her pals Tyler and Earl, isn't going anywhere.
