The rapper PinkPantheress called “super unique”
PinkPantheress is a uniquely talented artist in her own right, but to build her profile in the United States, she needed to add something to her kaleidoscopic sound. The solution came in the form of another rising star who has held a stranglehold on social media over the last year, one who is the complete opposite of PinkPantheress but equally unique, and shared her talents on an already huge song by the UK artist.
The song ‘Boy’s A Liar’, from her 2022 EP Take Me Home, is one of the 23-year-old’s most popular. It gained immense popularity on TikTok with the hook “The boy’s a liar, the boy’s a liar”, and its relatable lyrics spoke to a younger generation who have had their fair share of ‘situationships’ and being led on by men. Her eclectic style of alt-pop, fronted by samples of iconic UK garage, has seen her explode as one of TikTok’s favourite young artists. Her songs are imaginative and, at times, mysterious but rarely last over two minutes, making them perfect for social media.
For the 2023 remix of the song, ‘Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2’, PinkPantheress convinced Ice Spice, another TikTok favourite and “princess” of rap, to hop on and deliver a verse. The Bath-born artist is admittedly picky with her collaborators but revealed that the partnership came about through a message on Instagram.
“I saw that [Ice Spice] followed me because I was on Instagram, and I never go on Instagram,” she recalls in an interview with NME. “I thought it was cool because I didn’t think she even knew who I was. I popped in [the DMs] and said, ‘Whenever you’re in the UK, I’d love to meet’. I think she’s really cool, above the music and everything. She said she was a fan [of mine], and I was like, ‘OK, amazing’.”
Remixing an already popular song is a common tactic to capitalise on noise and gain even more traction, but it’s a strategy that PinkPantheress was wary of. “I’m not a fan of when a song gets big and people do a remix just to make it bigger,” she explains.
“When it comes to collaborations, I’m quite picky: I always want someone who can match me well on a track. Even though Ice Spice does drill, her flows are super unique, and the beats she chooses are different. A lot of people would struggle with the beats I choose, but I knew she’d be good for it.”
The two artists from opposite ends of the spectrum are polar opposites in their sound but offer a similar approach. Ice Spice’s repetitious raps are both firm and gentle, calm and upbeat. With a similar dichotomy, PinkPantheress layers darker lyrics over happier instrumentals. So how and why did they decide to collaborate?
“My songs are quite dark lyrically,” she says. “With Ice Spice, once you see the world she embodies and what she looks like, it makes you view the music differently. I listened to her and I’m like, ‘Oh, she’s actually more cute than a savage’. I guess it was a good opportunity for her to show a more vulnerable side. I think it’s good to create more of a three-dimensional character as a musician.”