Single review: Iconiq - Ladies

"Ladies" surfaced in snippet form a year ago with the hopes of it being released as a new single and the eventual release of a full length follow up to Change myself. But shit went wrong for a hoe. Despite a release date and several performances of the song - "Ladies" dropped off of the face the earth. Things got worse when endorsement deals dried up, new single releases got pushed back, a single got cancelled and fan support seemed to be at an all time low. Iconiq was a shaven headed flop. Avex had no plans to salvage her career and were pooling their money into Kumi Kehovah and Ayu. But with Kumi Kehovah having fallen pregnant, Avex needed a new chick with pop sensibility to milk for sales. BoA's busy living her life in South Korea, so the door was open for Iconiq. She was never a big seller, but she could at least push enough single units to fund a new wig for Ayu's next music video. The most shocking this is, is that Iconiq's singles and music have been a heck of a lot more consistent in quality than Kumi, Ayu and BoA have all managed with their past few studio albums and that does not let up for a second with "Ladies".

Despite this song being pretty old now, "Ladies" still sounds fresh, and sits alongside the musical soundscape of today better than it would have had it been released last year. Helmed by Taku Takahashi of M-Flo fame, the song is funky. Despite the busyness of the production, Iconiq stays afloat on the music. You wouldn't expect this given how thin her vocals are, but she rides the absolute shit out of Taku's production and tames it within an inch of its life, all without the help of obvious lashings of auto tune, vocoding and vocal editing. The beat makes the song, but it wouldn't work without Iconiq on it.

"Ladies" manages to sound very now in its sound without adhering to many of the cliches and templates which other pop artists of today are sticking to like glue. It can slot in with what everybody else is putting out right now, but could also stand on its own aside from it.

"Ladies" is faster and more danceable than anything Iconiq had recorded for Change myself or Light ahead. She sounds much more vocally confident and surer of herself as an artist. Not every female in J-Pop could jump on a drum 'n bass tinged jam and work it, but Iconiq does so with flying colours. Those who like Iconiq's more R&B tinged songs probably won't like this. But Iconiq could very easily garner new fans from those who are big on the likes of M-Flo, Shinichi Osawa, or underground music lovers in the the UK, the home of which cultivated this sound back in the 90s.

Iconiq. I'mma need you to stop taking pictures of your nails on Instagram and drop that new album by Christmas. Thanks.

RATING: 8 / 10