“Hey, I’ve got a mixtape too!”
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[6.33]
Katherine St Asaph: “I feel like letting my guard down,” Kalenna sings, and it’s glassy and gorgeous but also ridiculous. There isn’t a single point on “Black Matte Truck” where her guard’s been up; not the weapons-factory percussion at the start or the five-alarm production, not dispensing with describing the guy in about half a verse to get to the feeeeeelings, not dropping “all of my love, my crazy” in the (excellent) pre-chorus, certainly not letting a relationship new enough that she’s worried about him disappearing (or shaky enough that it’s essentially happened) prompt “I hope the angels hear me” or “If you leave, I’mma…” Wu-Tang’s nowhere near the worst place that sentence could go, but the threat’s still there. And that’s before Kalenna likens herself to, among others, Drake, Mary J. and Beyonce — three artists not known for emotional stoicism. The song’s a plea that can’t end well. You know he won’t care too much — but you still care.
[9]
Iain Mew: “If you leave I’mma crank Wu Tang in my matte black truck” is so fantastic a chorus that it’s really frustrating that it only comes round twice, and that Kalenna doesn’t even do it justice the second time. That marks the point where the song starts to fall apart, all the least interesting aspects pushed to the fore.
[5]
Edward Okulicz: Ten years ago, this would have sounded thrilling and massive blasting out of truck radios or whatever you were listening to it in. In 2012, the fact that it doesn’t resort to sledgehammer synths, horn patch fanfares and Guetta-esque beats make it seem a little small, but sometimes it’s the little dog that has the most bite. I wasn’t feeling the outro eight until she said she was going to let her guard down, which amidst the confident canter of the rest of the song is a moment that might deserve a bit more attention. So, points for subtlety; just because it’s about blaring Wu-Tang in a truck doesn’t mean it has to sound loud and shitty like it’s coming out of a truck doing ninety.
[7]
Brad Shoup: “I know you need me baby,” Kalenna says, “all of my love, my crazy.” I would posit that blasting Wu-Tang in your truck is clear evidence of mental stability. Constructing one’s review around a choice phrase is time-honored critical slop, but the whole damn song is trying to convince some dude that she’s capable of real shit. (She tried the same approach as the writer of Charlotte Church’s “Moodswings”.) You could give a generous reading of the third verse that sees her assuming multiple personalities, but I think she’s just robbing shine. The track does its part to undermine the theme by kinda pipping about like a sea shanty.
[4]
Jonathan Bogart: Not as atmospheric as Dawn’s track, but it’s not trying to be; with a revved-up heart but a downshifted pace, the tension is, if anything, more profound, and the graceful production touches where it could have gone all RedOne furnace-blast are all the more satisfying curled around her kiss-off.
[7]
Anthony Easton: I want this song to be the words “now now now now” interspersed with the words “matte black truck,” with the same back tracking, for like 10 minutes. Also I think “Black Matte Truck” seems to be a phallic metaphor. As it is, I really don’t care about the narrative she is spinning.
[6]