This is where the first kick of Exzenya voice hits with the V.I.P. first comes to a standstill like walking into an apparent glitz and glitz party and realizing there is something much more real and rough under all that glitz. She has a background in psychology and she applies it here but turns the entire V.I.P. concept upside down. It is not about velvet ropes and bottle service but Victims Impact Panels, the type of panel session that you receive following a charge of drunken driving. She transforms that sombre fact into stinging satire that somehow does not hurt, merely tells the truth. It is daring enough to be a hell of its own and it lingers on your ear like something that somebody told you in the middle of the night when the walls were down.
The production simply takes hold of you. These massive synth waves crash down over these retro 90s hip-hop beats and it creates this heavy, pounding rhythm that mights be blaring at a club, or that it knows something very serious, maybe both, is happening. The bass is thick, the rhythms are banging, and you are nodding just the same despite this black humor running throughout the song. It recalls me of an atmosphere of playfulness combined with razor-sharp storytelling of Doja Cat and Eminem. The entire process continues to roll, with irony and all this absorbing vitality which is electric and alive.
And Exzenya's voice? That's what really seals it. Her stream is wild--rapid, full of these splendid changes, earnest, yet in a manner that makes you heark. She has evidently had some experience, some heartaches, but she is not on top preaching at you. The songs are catchy, virtually stealthy with it, and these heavy subjects, court dates, consequences, lives changed, are cloaked in the most bold and provocative lyrics. It is the type of delivery that puts you on the edge of your seat, as though she has a fire going and it is grabbing a hold of you as well.
I was alone in the car on one night, the windows had been rolled down, and on came this song. It left me laughing in an uncomfortable manner yet it also got my mind going--giving me the real thinking, as opposed to just imagining--how one dumb decision can spread out, and have such an impact on so many people. But also how awareness, paying attention, can in fact change things. Exzenya doing her business as an indie artist with a growing global presence, gaining traction on platforms like Spotify, and you can feel that she is not just a game player. She's changing it.
V.I.P. is crisp and jagged, completely her way. It is a satirical gut-punch in a package of this bouncy infectious track that will make you reconsider your entire night. Turn it up loud. You won't forget it.
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