Willow Kayne - Playground Antics (2022)

Having picked up the Ivor Novello Rising Star award last year with just two released tracks to her name, Willow Kayne’s debut EP ‘Playground Antics’ arrives with no small amount of hype-justifying to do. But, within six wildly ambitious, genre-amorphous tracks that pit the singer somewhere between Charli XCX, M.I.A. and Remi Wolf, it’s evident to see what the acclaimed songwriting body has already seen in Kayne; from ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’, which pits sassy pop toplines over jungle beats, to the pure swagger and playground chant chorus of ‘Opinion’ (Maya Arulpragasam, watch your back), to ‘Faces Change’ with its undulating rap and woozy ‘90s, Massive Attack-y bridge, ‘Playground Antics’ is exploding with ideas, but has the skill to wrangle them all together expertly. On her debut, Willow Kayne shows us she can rap, she can sing, she can do lip-curling bad bitch and cheeky, playful pop star - and holy hell, can she write a tune.