skaiwater releases the surprise album femme fatale

skaiwater has put out femme fatale with no advance notice, a second album in a single year after Wonderful arrived in February. It is available to stream now and runs to 12 tracks.

Only one guest appears. Sophie Gray sings on Sophia, and the rest of the record is skaiwater alone across Vampires, Zombies, Hitunes, Delilah, Ella, Weverse, Nana, Angel, Baitface, Radar, Radar, Foreigner and Jump. A press release describes the album as inspired by Young Thug, which is legible enough in the vocal approach.

The title got an explanation, though not an especially clear one. Attraction is the force behind creation, skaiwater said, and lust, seduction and mystique are versions of the same feminine pull, which is why the album carries the name it does.

What has made skaiwater one of the more reliable names in underground hip-hop is the melodic writing rather than the rapping. The beat selection tracks what the scene is doing, but the hooks and the use of autotune go further than most of the field, which is why the songs stick after the production stops being novel.

Releasing two albums in seven months with no rollout on either is a choice that suits the audience. Nothing about the surprise drop is new, but for an artist whose listeners live on streaming and short video, the announcement cycle is dead weight rather than a launchpad.

Other recent underground and chart moves worth setting alongside it include Pooh Shiesty's top ten Billboard 200 debut and Tyga's album missing the chart entirely. Upcoming records are listed on the release calendar.