Who Cares?
Abby Jasmine may be only five feet tall, but, in the words of the Staten Island-based Vine star-turned- artist herself, her ego is 6’10”. Fresh off the new release of her deluxe album Who Cares?, The Pit had a chance to hop on a call and get her thoughts on her new rise to fame. Who Cares? might be an apt title for today’s soundtrack lying around in the house, but judging from the album’s production, it’s anything but ambivalent. Abby Jasmine seems to forgo convention altogether, in fact; this makes her album’s multifaceted sound that much more intense. “I could walk into the studio feeling sad as hell and be like, let’s make an R&B track,” she laughs. “[lately] I’ve been really into making dance tracks, like Kaytranada vibes.” For those looking for a mid-quarantine bop to be able to dance in your room to, Abby pulls through with “Artificial Lover,” a dance track that indeed echoes Kaytranada-esque production. While it is more pop-heavy than some of the other songs on the album, it’s something that I absolutely want to see when the clubs open back up.
Meanwhile, for those looking for something more typical in the R&B vibe, ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Like Me’ are the classic deep, enticing tunes; meanwhile, the album gets more experimental with ‘Poland Springs’, a muted, sun-soaked guitar strumming instrumental reminiscent of a sunny in California; ‘On God’, as well, has the soft crackle of a vinyl overlay before delving into an enveloping sound that takes you by surprise. Abby Jasmine herself notes that ‘R&B never died...elements of it are present in everything that we listen to.”
Her most challenging piece on the album? “Coneheads. I put a lot of pressure on myself early on...but I got stuck with writer’s block.” Thankfully, her perseverance paid off; ‘Coneheads’ is one of the best tracks on the album (in my opinion), with a distinctly vintage-sounding instrumental and catchy lyrics. All in all, the album is a sound release from a burgeoning new artist finding her unique sound in the scene right now. While she tends to focus more on her melodic voice as opposed to rap, her brief flow on ‘Groovy’ is catchy and lighthearted––something I’d love to see more of on her later releases. Ultimately, Who Cares? Is an all-around versatile album, proving Abby Jasmine to have a strong foothold in the current scene.