Choppy beats and relatable, catchy lyrics are the definitive characteristics of trap music. Just ask Flosstradamus, Diplo, 2Chainz or Baauer. Kiara Saulters, also known as kiiara, released “low kii savage” in early 2016, an album that challenges the typical sound of trap music.
“Gold” has been playing on the radio constantly. With over 304 million plays on Spotify, it’s clear there’s definitely an alternative-thirsty audience that gravitates towards the unique sound of kiiara. Minimalist beats paired with jerky, electro-inspired vocals create a laid-back vibe that still keeps the listener’s energy going. “Gold” in particular is especially empowering through its lyrics. The line “Gold up in my, gold up in my teeth/Don’t care what you say to me/I’mma bite your feelings out” leads the song while also encouraging the audience to keep up with the carefree attitude the lyrics are attempting to translate. The entire meaning of the song embraces the idea of not having to explain to someone why you don’t want to see them anymore — creating a perfect bond between vocals, lyrics and beat.
How did “Gold” come to form, anyway? In a radio interview with Australia’s Triple J, kiiara explains that she had written the song two years before its release, except with classical guitar. Her producer, Felix Snow, reworked the song with her to give it a more trap, electronic vibe. She had written the song with so many lengthy passages that it had to be hollowed out, but it resulted in the perfect blend that sounds a lot like alternative R&B.
A song that provides lyrical contrast on the album is “Intention.” While it carries the same choppy, silvery vocals and minimalist beat, the lyrics have more haunting imagery. “Blood on the street, like I blacked out/Ghosts in the air, like I’m wack now.” While the song carries the emotion of late night drunkenness, it also explains the unraveling of getting drunk and thinking about the same person and the tension you have with them. The depressive lyrics challenge the upbeat, head-bobbing vibe the song calls for.
Along the lines of alcohol, ghosts from your past and 2 a.m. drunkenness comes “Tennessee.” Its lyrics are a lead in for the track that follows: “Now you just a memory/Sippin’ on that Tennessee.” It’s almost as if “Intention” is the aftermath of “Tennessee;” making the decision to drink to forget ultimately leads to the inevitability of always remembering. The trap influence is seen heavily in the chorus of this song and is the focal point of the track, considering the vocals are a more supportive characteristic.
Every album has an anticipated “slow song” and for kiiara, that’s “Feels,” a lyrical journey of painful acceptance. In this song, the silvery vocals support the sad girl ambiance that kiiara has set the stage for. Here, she says “And I got way too many feels, way too much emotion” which is inexplicably her confession of being an emotional person, but it is followed by “All this Xans inside my body, I say fuck it keep on drowning” which expresses her succumbing towards all the emotion she feels.
“Say anymore” follows “Intention” as the almost quirky track. It stands out from the rest through happy imagery rather than haunting and depressive. Here, kiiara reflects on happy times with the person she was avoiding but also mourning over: “Say we ain’t together, but every weekend we do breakfast/Then put our initials in beach sand.” It’s almost like an ode to the person that she is so conflicted over and an admission of the feelings she has for them. “From the nightclub to the bedroom floor/I never felt quite like this before/It’s your eyes that I really adore.” It’s a definitive lyrics contrast from “Gold,” where she was expressing empowerment over not having to explain herself for suddenly cutting someone off.
The final track on the album, “Hang up tha phone,” is the song of resolution. Throughout the album, the lyrics outline kiiara’s feelings towards the person she is conflicted over, beginning with the carefree ending of the relationship, her gloomy feelings about doing so, her decisions to drink to forget about those feelings, her realization that she may never forget, her reflection on the relationship, and finally, the resolution to continue on with the intimacy she had originally wanted to end: “Hang up tha phone/Hop in your whip/Boy I’m home alone/In this empty ass crib.” This album is harmonious mix of trap and electro-pop that produces the perfect alternative-R&B mold for the story kiiara is trying to tell, the story some of us know too well.
