While the world of hyperpop is taking over the entire musical landscape as we know and love it, I couldn’t be more excited for the future. These artists are some of the most unique and inventive musicians that the world has ever seen, and what’s even more incredible is the fact that most of these talents are under the legal drinking age. As for SEBii, I feel like he’s way too versatile to be simply boxed into the hyperpop or glitchcore genres, so I’d say that he’s in a lane of his own that other artists haven’t even come close to touching quite yet.
Although I’ve only become familiar with this wild world of music within the past few months, I have become engrossed with all of the out-of-the-box thinking individuals who make up the sonic landscape, and SEBii is at the very top of my list of favorites. While I’m used to hearing his more lighthearted, upbeat ballads that are joyous and playful, it almost seems like he steps out of his comfort zone on his latest tape VVBLUE, a 7 song, 18-minute-long effort that shows a different side of SEBii on some songs while giving us a taste of the classic artist we know and love on others.
With a heavy-hitting lineup of producers like malikai, bailey, glasear, kimj, skress, umru, lou, blackwinterwells, wubz, vvspipes, and even a Travis Barker feature, it goes without saying that SEBii was set up for success no matter what the moment he surrounded himself with such prominent talents as well. When it comes to songs like the opener “how could i tell u?”, the third cut “iiCARUS”, and even “fluX” at times to an extent, it seems almost like a different, more aggressive side of SEBii comes out as his vocals come through with a bit more insistence, grit, and determination that are a bit more assertive than his other, bubblier deliveries that we’re used to hearing.
Alongside his experimentally successful vocals, the instrumentals are perfect for matching his tone of voice as slightly deeper, wilder instruments and drums are incorporated to provide a nice base to support SEBii on these incredible adventures he’s trying out. At the same time, though, we are reminded of the classic, cheerful SEBii that was introduced to us from the very start of his career on records such as “breakOUT”, “do u care, if i stare?”, and “i needa know”, so hearing the two different sides of SEBii not only side by side on this EP, but also intermingled throughout is an absolutely incredible juxtaposition that is an essential listen for anyone whether you’re a fan of SEBii’s or not.
While SEBii can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes and the eyes of most other listeners, he undeniably hit it out of the park once again with VVBLUE. It’s obviously a venture off the already beaten path for the up-and-coming superstar, but it works in every single way that I can think of and I couldn’t ask for anything more from him. While I’m not asking, it was such a pleasure to read the back cover of the EP’s fine print, because it actually states that this is the first of his EP trilogy that he’s working on. While he also mentions VVRED is up next, just hearing the news that this project is part of something bigger is more than enough to get me excited for what’s to come. While we wait for the next installment of the series, though, make sure you make VVBLUE an all-out priority, and after you’re done listening, be sure to check out SEBii’s incredibly unique official shower video for his hit song “do u care, if i stare” here.