In which we confirm our preferred Hobert sibling…
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Claire Davidson: You could tell me that Malcolm Todd recorded a demo of “Earrings” was recorded over the instrumental of Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” and I’d probably believe you: the final product has the exact same wheedling synths, viscous electric guitar, and utterly incompetent mixing that flattens every element of the mix into a compressed whine. The difference here is that, in the original article, Steve Lacy tried something novel with his off-kilter delivery, his consciously off-key singing a deliberate tool for conveying self-deprecation. Malcolm Todd, on the other hand, performs with the sung equivalent of a whisper-yell, his depiction of unreciprocated and ill-communicated love conveyed with all the grace and humility of a pop-punk D-lister, albeit without the intensity. Not only does this affectation sound ridiculous, but it also prevents the track from developing a semblance of shambolic atmosphere, which at least made “Bad Habit” unique enough to send it to the top of the Hot 100. Really, what’s most surprising about a song this derivative is that it was somehow authored by an artist who comes from the same gene pool as Audrey Hobert.
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Julian Axelrod: I don’t know if having a medium-famous sitcom writer dad helped Malcolm Todd and Audrey Hobert break into the music industry, but it definitely seems like Malcolm inherited a TV lifer’s ability to assume anyone’s creative voice. If this was a Steve Lacy or Dominic Fike spec script, he’d be staffed on their next album immediately. But I’d love to hear him pitch me an original concept of his own.
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Nortey Dowuona: Anyone remember that episode of The Middle where Axl was not studying for his PSAT and freaking Frankie out? Well, Malcolm Todd is freaking me out with how much he has studied Steve Lacy — what about his future? Is he hoping Steve will swerve away from this and leave him his white twink audience? He won’t win over many with this uninspiring The Middle-subplot song.
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Al Varela: Nothing wrong with this song or Malcolm Todd as a whole, but it’s nothing I haven’t heard before. It’s from the Frank Ocean playbook of pained yearning combined with the bedroom guitar grooves of Steve Lacy, and not nearly on the same level of either of those two. Malcolm himself just doesn’t enthuse me as a vocalist or stage presence. A limp voice with not a lot of compelling texture and not enough charisma to pull off the cheeky moments like the “extra, extra, read all about it” refrain. But the groove is decent, I wouldn’t skip this if it came on. Disposable, not derogatory.
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Ian Mathers: Feels almost de rigeur these days for anything entering the charts late via Tik Tok (et al) to have basically nothing of interest beyond a pleasantly laid-back groove that you can indeed picture looping. As soon as you try to dig into it much more than that (melodically or lyrically) you’re holding one of those “DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT” bags. I guess it’s moderately diverting that here Todd says the quiet part out loud (how many modern pop songs can’t go anywhere close to what should be a simple resolution because “you’re scared and you’re not talking”?).
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Charli Jae Brister: No shade to Malcolm Todd, but to break through in the Charli Jae Soulful White Boy Index, you’ll have to beat out some very tough competition. James Blake, Justin Vernon, Patrick Stump — and those are only the most recent. There’s some stuff to latch on to here, but it’s not distinct. It’s a sweet and soulful song. That’s about it. No verve. You’re going on “bubbling under”.
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