Jenn Vix’s “Mr. Strange” is Coming Soon
The myriad movements of popular music are something to behold. The seemingly endless progression from the gutter (though most would’ve called it trap a dime or two ago), to radio play and professional accolades, to mainstream success is interminable, perhaps.
Nonetheless, there’s nothing like a reminder of this cultural, social, and musical advancement to illustrate the fact that the present is oftentimes directly shaped by the past. Jenn Vix’s “Mr. Strange” is perhaps the latest—although it won’t officially be released until October 7— (or is that most cogent) example of what is now a fairly solidified tradition.
“Strange”, of course, is just a single. It’s less than three minutes, at that. But the tempo never progresses above 85 Beats Per Minute, if it gets that quick. The ubiquitous 808 clap punctuates the drums, which are also endowed with the equally pervasive 808 high hats and what very well may be the most notorious kick in all of music history—from the same drum machine.
Once, this sound was something one could refer to as countercultural. TI’s longtime producer/collaborator DJ Toomp claims to have invented it. Today, it’s the sound bed for the vocal stylings of Vix—whose got some chops in her own right.
Her voice is strong, indicative of a power she somehow never quite fully reveals on the tune, and is certainly one of the elements of the track to captivate your attention. She belts out the track’s title in the chorus time and time again, seemingly getting better each time she hits those notes.
But that’s not all she’s credited with on this cut. She devised the vocal arrangements for the number, ditto for that of the music as well, penned the lyrics, and is even responsible for the synth playing. In keeping with the motif of the style of music this is, it’s a relatively catchy keyboard riff that is perhaps graced with bells—which are almost certainly predicated on either the same or another sort of synthesizer.
However, they help to provide a balanced sense of percussion to the song (to balance out the swiftness of the high hats, which seemingly move in quadruple time in spurts, they’re so fast). The beat itself is an exclusive creation from one Profit Money, which just might come into Vix’s future if she keeps pushing this song.
