Emo-rock stylings meet with contemporary rap flows and free-style melodies throughout this equally free-flowing EP from rapper and artist POPSTARR.
Beginning with the melancholic and introspective Die Any Day, the Raw Emotions 2 project introduces a sense of personal lostness that’s likely to be incredibly relatable for many right about now. Not just the subject matter, but the moods created by each track – these hypnotic guitar-style riffs, the trap beats, the wash of synths and the emotive, tired vocal deliveries.
Is It Worth it? is all of this and follows the opener with a deep sense of intimacy, heartache and uncertainty. A poignant highlight for its desolate look at modern life from the honest perspective of the individual.
As the project continues, we get hints of melody and uplift to contrast the sadness just occasionally – Reject a fine example, Better Days an even stronger one. The emo-rap mood of the past decade meets with a rock-soaked instrumental set-up to give POPSTARR’s music a sound of its own.
Elsewhere the music continues to speak on the desire to connect, the weight of isolation, and the pain of closure. Over The Edge is a passionate highlight, superb vocals inject a pop-punk emotive edge that suits the raw and desperate nature of the lyrics perfectly well.
Am I Worth it? at the penultimate moment leads us calmly and thoughtfully into the brighter optimism of a closing I Don’t Care.
The album ends on a high, the music feeling hopeful, the guitars intertwining or appearing to dance within the mix. The beat uplifts, the voice sounds full of life again, and things fade out with a sense of possibility.
The project in full effectively encapsulates a certain series of events or a particular time in a life. It’s all temporary, but it feels heavy, inescapable, and that’s what makes the album so relatable. Worth a listen.
Check out POPSTARR on Twitter & Instagram.
