After releasing “Holding On” Iann Dior shocked the world and left them waiting for something new. For most of 2020, the young melodic hip hop artist has been quite silent after previously releasing his debut album “Industry Plant.” One month ago, Iann came out of the shadows and released a two song EP, “Still Here” with the lead song having a feature from the super star, Trippie Redd.
Let’s talk about the songs, starting with the lead song “shots in the dark (feat. Trippie Redd). The song starts off with an electric guitar giving off heavy pop energy. Iann comes on to the song with his typical melodic vocals and hard hitting lyrics. Section 0:10 to 0:35 is the hook. This hook brings a powerful message of confusion and hard feelings in a relationship the rapper has been in.
Iann repeats the hook twice then goes into his verse which explains his confusing relationship on a deeper level. He talks about how the girl will always be the same no matter what and how he wishes it could be different. He also mentions how when they first met she was “sweet” and how it’s “crazy” how fast she turned to be “so cold”. After hearing this line in the song it made me wonder if something happened between them that made the girl become toxic.
At the end of Iann’s verse, it becomes apparent that the girl is manipulative of him and always welcomes him back in a way that is nauseating and destructive to Iann. However, he is addicted to it. “Section 0:45 to 1:00 of the verse confirms how Iann cannot get enough of her even though it is destructive to his mental health. He refers to her as his “medicine,” which is ironic because medicine is meant to fix something but instead he is writing a “I hate you but I love you” song. Then enters the pre-chorus where Iann admits that it is indeed a toxic love that he has with the girl although he feels that nothing is the same without her.
After the dramatic and roller coaster of emotion filled verse Iann presented he comes back in with a hook to let Trippie Redd share his feelings. Trippie Redd also shared his side of how his past relationships have gone. He talked about how the girl is only available to him after dark implying that she behaved in ways that made Trippie Redd feel upset.
After Trippie Redd’s short verse it goes back into the pre chorus and then one last hook leaving the listener with an electric guitar outro to absorb the emotions the two put into the song.
The second and last song on the rapper’s project is “don’t wanna believe”. This is a solo song so it is purely iann dior. In this song it has a whole different feeling than “shots in the dark” did.
This song starts off with a chill guitar, an instrument that is typically heard in a lot of iann dior songs. After listening to the song, I noticed that the project is telling a story. The first song is about how he was stuck in a relationship that he can’t stop going back to and the last song is him finally getting over the girl and finally leaving her.
Despite the song being about moving on and being better mentally, iann still feels hurt. He still loves the girl after everything she did to him but he knows that it’s not good for him. After telling the girl he’s leaving her she is upset and in disbelief; hence the name “don’t wanna believe”. In iann’s verse he mentions how he did not mean to upset the girl but karma came around and got back to her. He mentions that he had to pretend like he was okay when in actuality he wasn’t.
Although this song is significantly shorter than the previous, it leaves you feeling satisfied, but there is more to be discovered.
Out of the two songs that were on this small project I personally like “don’t wanna believe” more than “shots in the dark”. Both are good in their own ways, however I feel that Iann dior is much easier to listen to when he makes mellow songs like “don’t wanna believe”. That’s the kind of song that you could listen to anytime and anywhere.
I asked a Senior student, Chase Olson, who is also a music enthusiast the same question I asked myself. He said, “‘shots in the dark’ was a banger, and ‘don’t wanna believe’ had a really chill vibe to it. I think that this EP is indicative of what Iann Dior’s upcoming album is going to sound like; a mixture of bangers that have a summer kind of vibe and some chill songs that keep you grounded. My favorite song of the two in the EP is `don’t wanna believe’; ‘shots in the dark’ was definitely a great song but I was more drawn to ‘don’t wanna believe’ because it felt like Iann Dior was trying to be upbeat, but not in a really hyped kind of way.”
Like I said before, I think both songs were absolutely amazing, however “don’t wanna believe”, is more of iann dior’s style. After listening to both of the songs multiple times, I have incredibly high expectations and hopes for his project that he says he is going to release in the summer.
