Mallrat - 'Rockstar' - Song Review
REVIEW BY: THOMAS FREEMAN
Indie-pop/hip-hop artist Mallrat is back with a brand new single, and a first taste of her upcoming debut album, with the new track Rockstar. With just over a year since her huge EP Driving Music, which boasted the song Charlie making no. 3 in Triple J’s Hottest 100 and no. 79 in Triple J’s Hottest 100 of the Decade, and two years since the equally as epic In the Sky EP. Since gaining a huge following with these releases, fans were keen to see what she’d do next with her music, and Rockstar does feel like something a bit different in Mallrat’s rapidly growing discography.
The dreamy new single is filled with really nice instrumentally-filled production and lyrics that blend heartbreak and aspiration together quite beautifully. Taking inspiration from a variety of artists, including Lana Del Rey and Kacey Musgraves, Mallrat gives listeners one of her best songs both lyrically and vocally. From the opening line, the song is filled with a personal style that looks at both the future and the present with relationships, and everything that’ll come with them. The chorus summarises it quite beautifully:
“Maybe I'll fall in love with a rock star, we'll be married forever I'll forget all about you one day Maybe when I've won all the Grammys and I've got my own family I'll forget all about you one day”
Vocally, we also hear Mallrat really showing her full range all throughout, which we haven’t heard her do as well since 2017’s Better, making it such a stand-out song from that year. It’s something that shows Mallrat really pushing herself as an artist and giving listeners even more optimism about what she’ll do in her upcoming music.
Production-wise, this is one of her most unique sounding tracks, with lots of dreamy and effects-driven instruments, similar to other artists like Vacations. The guitar that opens up the song sets the tone and emotions immediately and helps carry it with the lyrics all throughout the track. The distorted and deep drums feel like something almost from an Amy Shark song, but with more of a vintage aesthetic to them. They also really keep the energy lifted all throughout the song too, and the snare just sounds wonderful too. After the second chorus, there is a really great instrumental section that Mallrat herself said was heavily inspired by Violent Soho’s first two albums. It’s quite unexpected in the song, even with the title Rockstar, but the deep, fuzzy, driving guitars end the song in a way that can only be described as awesome. I also love how the sound of the drums changes in this section too, and it really makes me extremely curious to see if there will be any more of this on the album.
Many fans have said that this is one of Mallrat’s best songs, and they’re completely right about it. It’s different in sound yet captures everything that we love about the artist. It’s deep and personal, but also relatable and fanciful. The sounds and lyrics are both beautiful in their own ways, capturing Mallrat doing what she does in her own way, that only seem to be increasing in quality. Definitely keep an eye on this one because it’s going to be big towards the end of the year.
'Rockstar' by Mallrat is out now via Dew Process
Stream/buy it HERE
