Rachel Saywitz welcomes us to Co-Star Blurber dot net: it’s dot com!
[Video]
[7.07]
Rachel Saywitz: “Co-Star” is for bad bitches, for cunty bitches, for lovely bitches, for me, I’m the bitch that will always be right out of Amaarae’s periphery of paramours, because according to her, “Aries bitches bad / But damn, I’ll pass please.” It’s hard to think you’re a bad bitch on bad days, but “Co-Star” makes it easy — the music sounds like it’s a clear spring on a heavenly day, and Amaarae sounds like a goddess: she flutters, and teases, and sighs, and god, if I don’t want to live in her delicate gasps and sharp tongue; she sings the chorus like she’s distributing hot flashes on your skin. This is pop at its peak — irreverent and sexy, perfect for dancing, fucking, for jumping alone in your room, for bobbing your head on the subway to get out all the nervous energy that comes after hanging out with a crush, for crying silently on the same subway after a bad day because you need to be reminded that you’re a bad bitch. And I think the beauty of “Co-Star” is related to the latter, in its total acceptance of every sun and moon and star that you are — no matter how much Amaarae teases, her motives are clear: she’ll still have every part of you.
[10]
William John: Maybe astrology is corny; maybe cramming a reference to each astrological sign into a three minute pop song as though it’s an assignment for a creative writing class is cornier; maybe I’m ultimately far too entranced by the harp flutters and the pummelling, breathless chorus to care about corniness.
[9]
Brad Shoup: Like “New Rules,” but if it was only a hit on Twitter.
[6]
Katherine St Asaph: This many astrological yuks and not a single Uranus joke.
[3]
Hannah Jocelyn: “Mambo No. 5” with astrological signs instead of girls. Add two points for the Nina Sky reference, and one more for that kick drum, which lends the barrage of puns some actual weight and urgency.
[7]
Michael Hong: Have you ever used Co-Star? The app is in no way just about horoscopes and prediction, but for the non-religious, it’s a tool for connection. Astrological sign, like MBTI, isn’t so much about understanding, but the invitation to understand — “what’s your sign?” is a shallow conversation starter in the same vein of “what school did you graduate from?” or “do you prefer cats or dogs?” When Amaraae runs through the signs here, it’s like a roulette for her next interest — the characteristics are unimportant, it’s the connection that she’s chasing after. “Co-Star” is passionate and heated the way any relationship built on astrological compatibility is. It’s short and sounds like she’s constantly chasing after immediate pleasure. Covered in sweat under the beat, the only thing left to say is, “I’m a Virgo, what’s your sign?”
[8]
Nortey Dowuona: Learning Cadenza was involved in this was excellent. He’s produced “3210” by Jeshi, “Vibes” by Allan Kingdom, “Wet Vagina” by Doja Cat and “Where Did I Go” by Jorja Smith, which put her on the map — at least for me. amaarae needed no such assist, she was already a star once she enlisted him, alongside KYU Steed and KZ the Producer to complete this song. All the above songs have loping, pulsing drum programming that feels hand played and slow despite the bpm, and Co-Star breaks from that to be a faster more driven song, slipping through 3 drum patterns — afrobeat, tropical house and of course, amapiano log drums. (there’s also an elongated bass line which is actually a trademark of his work.) And in a nice twist, the song is allowed to slowly close its curtains with the drums still twirling, the silky synth line settling onto the ground, closing with a stop — but not a final one.
[10]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: This year, when it was finally my turn to select the book for my queer book club, I picked Larry Mitchell’s “The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions,” a fantastical fable about faggots, faggatinas, dykelets, faeries, women, and others making their way through the treacherous world of men. “Co-Star,” with all of its cosmic revelations, seems like it’d naturally be the soundtrack for that fictional universe: abundant with its astrology, bumping with its beat, and generous with its humor.
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: Post-afrobeats gone neuro-funk that loves to dissolve into the ether in a delightful fizz, but somehow manages to keep a weird bottom to it that feels constantly disintegrating yet still too rigid at the same time. It’s a hallucinatory tantalization for 3 or 4 different ideas to land, and nothing is ever coming close. A great little trick, but unsure if it’s the best thing to do for a song.
[5]
Ian Mathers: Look, this is absolutely a bop but it is very funny to be going “baby, just tell me” right after you’ve just run through all of the signs and why they are mostly horrendous. There is just no way that is going to end well!
[8]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: This is so damn frothy that I can’t help but enjoy it — it’s not my favorite song off of Fountain Baby but I can’t help but admire the way that she stacks her astrological puns, stringing them together like fighting game combos. Weirdly, though, I like the bits of “Co-star” where Amaarae gets away from her conceit better — by the end, when she comes up for air, you almost want her to plunge back in again.
[7]
Taylor Alatorre: I don’t care for astrology, which is why I love this. I love that its conceit-based songwriting invites me to not take the subject matter too seriously, even as Amaarae herself clearly knows it well enough to write about it with such ease and finesse. By keeping things light and brisk and “air”-y at all times, she frees me from the burden of having to particularly care about the difference between a sun and a moon sign, allowing me to experience the lyrics as simply a fun little game of word association. The utter commitment to the bit, coupled with the level of confidence that it both requires and exposes, wears down any pre-existing resistance to being taken in by a gimmick, instead making me feel I’ve been granted entrance to a club I shouldn’t be in. This is just nerdcore hip hop for women, and it pwns.
[8]
Will Adams: Amaarae, on Libras: “Them Libra bitches horrible.” Beyoncé, on Libras: “Fun like a Libra, he stays on my mind.” I am being completely objective and unbiased in saying that I do not care too much for this “Co-Star” song!
[5]
Dorian Sinclair: I experience some brief disappointment every time I hear “Co-Star” start up, because I am a sucker for interesting harp music and that conceit gets dropped almost immediately. I can’t stay mad though, because I’m too busy being charmed by how hard Amaarae commits to her lyrical conceit. Basically every line in this song relates back to the core “astrology” theme, and that kind of adherence to message is something I can’t help but respect, even if the song were not a bop (but it’s a bop). Is that Sagittarius of me? I have no goddamn clue. But Amaarae would know!
[7]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: It’s weird to have watched Davido spend the past decade constantly finding ways to stretch his brand of Afrobeats, and to now find his music extremely traditional (tone: neutral) alongside the continued ascendance of Amaarae, Cruel Santino, and Odunsi (The Engine). The problem, though, is that alté’s hit rate has never been so high: the songs are largely intriguing in their fashionable Afrofusion, but they rarely have the hooks to anchor the ideas. “Co-Star” showcases this well, as it walks a terribly thin line between featherlight and vaporous nothing. Amaarae’s voice is too wispy for the synth to be pogoing so carefree; we already have harps and hi-hats — why not something deeper to round out the song? Still, her delivery is just prickly and playful enough to transcend pure vibes. There’s also something profound about hearing her sing about rising water levels as the synth pads embody that exact scenario. She comes out the other end of it with the same beatific tone, like she’s dancing in the rain. That she longs for an air is perfect. After all, a water can help one trust their heart, right?
[6]