Of late, Throwing Shade has been cultivating her own defiantly niche sound. Some works will have likely conformed more to expectations, based on previous collaborations and projects alongside, for example, Felicita, SOPHIE, Ana Caprix, and Palmistry. Namely, I’m referring to the “We Belong Together” remix — a garage-infused rendering of Mariah Carey’s emancipative classic — and generally, to a liquor of UK dance aesthetics and blunt references to chart-topping pop music. Based on recent uploads, it’s a side that’s still exercised — her track “adagio for britney” is an ambient reworking of Spears’s “Baby One More Time,” in the fashion of E+E’s early mountainous pop/R&B edits. Fate Xclusive and its predecessor 19 Jewels,, however, stand apart as evidence of Nabihah Iqbal’s distinct identity.
It’s an identity that’s broadly informed; Iqbal has a background in ethnomusicology and hosts a regular show on NTS radio showcasing global sounds. When listening to her music, it’s apparent that there’s a wealthy knowledge of diverse popular musics behind the veil. Outside of her own productions too, it’s explicit in the eclectic mixes she has sewn together for platforms like Truants, Champ Magazine, and GETME!.
Fate Xclusive is largely a step in the same direction as 19 Jewels and, in some ways, a mirror image. In that sense, it doesn’t provide too much excitement aside from a continuation of what is nonetheless a very toothy recipe. Opening track “Honey Trap” is largely a reflection of the former’s opener, with similarities in the stylistic character as well as textual content. There’s a sultry quality throughout the EP, and this too is most evident here. “Honey Trap” finds the appropriately named Bee stuck on the viscid fluid, with the words “Honey, honey, drip, drip, drip/ Lick it off your lip, lip, lip.” It’s a direct departure from the lines “Heat me up/ Make me melt/ Bubble up/ Caramel/ Sugar face/ Honey lips/ Candy eyes/ Sweet surprise” that graced 19 Jewels’s “Sweet Tooth.”
However, despite being the lead track, the rest of the EP is arguably where it comes into its own. In particular, the final two tracks — respectively, “4eva Fate” and “4Drake” — offer the most reward. With its droning, underlying chords, there’s a feeling that the latter was hypothetically written for the suggested rapper himself; there’s a sparsity, and melancholia, that would be at home in “Marvin’s Room.” “4eva Fate” is more upbeat, reminiscent of her Chancer 12-inch on Happy Skull or 19 Jewels’s “Pure Life.” On “Mirror,” the percussion somehow retains an arid nature while being awash with echo and a sunken, faded vocal. Altogether, there’s a dryness to the EP that sits well, aslant to its airy London edge. Given the promise, Fate Xclusive isn’t quite a jawbreaker, but it’s certainly sweet.
More about: Nabihah Iqbal, Throwing Shade
