BEST NEW TRACK: UFFIE - DRUGS

It’s been seven years and then some since Uffie was Poppin’ the Glock, and as far as her songwriting chops are concerned, little has changed. The French-American artist is back from a very long hiatus with the wondrous bit of afterhours dream pop “Drugs.”

History is full of forgotten actors who never got their proper due, and the former MySpace success story (we are all so old) Uffie seems destined to be one of those types. Seriously, go listen to her old music and realize she was making all that nearly a decade before the entire pop industrial complex adopted this sound. There’s a reason she is the muse of French DJs and other horny music dudes the world over.

Being first is cool and all, but people rarely remember you for it. Uffie left to go kick it with her family for a few years, only for everyone else to cop her style and achieve stardom with it. Her debut Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans didn’t reinvent pop music, but it surely was a flash point to show where the genre was going.

Some people did notice, apparently. Last year Charli XCX, one of the many more popular artists who owe a great deal to Uffie, tabbed her for a guest role on “Baby Girl.”  Perhaps that’s what fueled her recent comeback, and hopefully there’s even more goodness on the way. Read what Uffie has to say about the song below then listen to “Drugs”

“This record digs deeper than I ever have and reflects the joy, growth, and pain of my life experiences. Hearts break, joy sings, and we’ve always got each other on the dance floor.”

UFFIE - DRUGS

I have always been a sucker for songs with a hard lyric-music dichotomy, so of course I love “Drugs”. Also, from Chance the Rapper to The Verve, I’m a big fan of songs about drugs not working.

Anyhow, Uffie stays close to her dance roots for the sugary electro pop beat which is pure carefree bliss. The song’s lyrics are another matter entirely. Relationships fracture because of drug addiction with astonishing regularity, yet rarely is the sadness, deceit, and pain which predicate their destruction expressed in such a simple and catchy manner. Not even the vecodder can hide how beautiful and broken her vocals are.

What I’m trying to say is this song is very good. Hope to hear another one from Uffie before another seven years go by.

Calvin Paradise is not any one thing. The half-hearted vagabond and forgetful luddite currently resides in Los Angeles and how he spends his time is none of your damned business.