Every dog song has its day…
[Video]
[5.75]
Julian Axelrod: In just under a year, “Mutt” has wormed its way into omnipresence through a canny combination of remixes, deluxe editions, and the kind of hook you don’t realize you’ve memorized until you find yourself singing it while folding laundry. In a crowded R&B landscape of dudes with gorgeous voices detailing their dickish deeds, Leon Thomas stands out with a pained falsetto and a beat that splits the difference between lush Motown soul and choppy DJ Premier sampledelica.
[6]
Iain Mew: Leon Thomas calls himself a dog, unable to take things slow, and promises bluntness before offering to be vulnerable. The thing is that his rough edges aren’t really all that rough, certainly not enough to counteract the lushness of the sample, and his vulnerability isn’t that soft either. Caught in an undynamic middle, the song ends up uneventfully timeless.
[5]
Ian Mathers: I misheard the lyric at first as “She said ‘take your time, what’s the rush?’ / Baby you’re a dog, I’m a mutt.” Admittedly, I am a cat owner so I just assumed I was about to learn some new things about varieties of canines. Slightly disappointed to realize it’s “I’m a dog, I’m a mutt,” but it’s still a good song.
[7]
Andrew Karpan: A sweaty and uncharismatic nothing jam, it wallows in itself and is, perhaps, the sound of pure wallowing, the sound of going nowhere on a sinking ship of self-pity.
[3]
Claire Davidson: I wasn’t surprised to learn this went viral on TikTok: the combination of a lush ’70s soul sample (Enchantment’s “Silly Love Song”) with Leon Thomas’s airy, almost vacant vocal delivery maintains a degree of irony that feels custom-built for the platform. Thomas is, uh, not a great singer, often struggling to stay on key to a degree that sounds purposefully self-deprecating. That approach at least feels fitting on “Mutt,” though, which operates with a looseness that keeps things endearing as he half-apologizes for his romantic shortcomings — when a song’s first verse begins with a “pardon my bluntness” weed pun, you know what you’re getting, for better or worse. I was disappointed to realize that Chris Brown is featured on the remix; I guess when someone tells you they’re a dog, you should believe them the first time.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Middling R&B with the occasional ear-catching scansion. For NPR listeners who miss “old” Leon Bridges.
[4]
Nortey Dowuona: Behind the Music moment: I usually do all these blurbs in a single day, not weeks before or day of unless I’m really slacking, which then makes me incredibly grateful when I actually hear something truly beautiful, such as the drum pattern undergirding “Mutt.” The strings and lush piano come from the funk band Enchantment’s song “Silly Love Song”, where lead Michael Strokes sings, “If i had it my way i would write a song all about you, girl.” Instead, Leon sings, “But i’ll let my guard down for you.” It’s a greater risk — a silly love song is often unrequited, meant to be hurled back into the singer’s face with a bitter laugh — but a song about your vulnerability and willingness to be a sucker, a fool, a hopeful and trusting figure, over a drum pattern this smooth and gentle, is lovely.
[8]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Every year I attempt to avoid listening to a semi-arbitrarily chosen subset of the year’s pop hits until I have to review them on here. This becomes easier and easier over time — I don’t have to write out a tired shpiel about the decline of the monoculture here, do I? You’re all on Substack! — but occasionally leads to deep omissions. Take this, for example: trad-leaning R&B hit from a long-time bit player songwriter who I felt I had gotten enough of from his invisible presence on SZA’s SOS. We get a few pseudo-hits of this nature every year, swapping out the megastar the singer-songwriter is attached to and scrambling the personal details; they’re all quite talented and kind of boring. Yet “Mutt” is far more charming than the standard entry in this niche; the bass is thrillingly rubbery, the borrowed late ’70s ambiance does not ring false, and Thomas himself is a deeply charismatic presence. Sorry for not listening to this earlier!
[7]