Party, fill and a damn goodbye. Little Jinder is the artist who compares herself to Amy Winehouse and whose PR agency sells her using her "outspoken instagram story". Sometimes for good - music Sweden needs more female artists who don't want to be comfortable or fit in. But there is a risk that the person will take over and start to feel studied and applied.
On the last album, which was called Hejdå, Little Jinder wanted to say goodbye. Of what, was not completely sunny. But if that was the sometimes decadent twenty-something life, she has succeeded. On Little Jinder's unreleased romance, she sounds older, cooler and cooler.
Musically it is slow , synth-driven 80s scented pop with dull bass and dull drums. It is soft, flowing and hovering with some fun details, like buttery saxophone. The theme is still mostly unhappy love, but it is more sad and thoughtful than angry and cocky.
Why she chose to call it a mixtape is not easy to know, it is neither self-produced nor self-published or particularly effervescent or different. Maybe it is because the number of songs (seven pieces, a perfect length!) - does not fit into the ep or album format. But if that is what it takes to feel creative freedom again, then okay.
The change of language is in any case a hit. Her incredibly bright voice makes her better in English - it makes her sound less childish, cooler. Big Jinder! In addition, the lyrics get better: less literal and diary-like, more poetic. As in dark, beautiful Waves, where the recurring quarrels and anguish of a relationship you know deep down is doomed but hard to leave, becomes a storm at sea. Neat, smart and irresistible:
"When the waves rush in, I try to ride it, tell you lies, try to fight it, there's blood in the sea from the shells under your feet and I cry"
Also, Little Jinder sings better in English. In one of the mixtape's best songs, Into you, it's actually her voice that really makes it lift.
Sure - Little Jinder's song lyrics become less original in English. But the feeling of being dumped or distressed in a burned relationship she communicates at least as strongly in English - if not stronger. It just sounds more professional and beautiful, on the purchase.