Tierra Whack - Only Child

February 19, 2019 - Interscope Records

Your tongue is pink. What have you been doing? Eating candy?

It’s less likely we invented music because we liked the sound and more likely we invented it to cope with love lost. Musical history is littered like a landfill with the lovesick, the lonely and ailing hearts of us all. As the trope of couples breaking up became more and more commercialized, an image was drawn into our minds of what it means to end a relationship—a Katherine-and-Heathcliff kind of fatalistic melodrama, featuring winds on the moors, broken bottles and a protagonist bawling in bed for a week with gallons of ice cream and saying her life is over. I can’t speak for the general public, but the more theatrical this breakup image becomes in my TV imagination, the less I can relate to it.

Philadelphia-based maverick Tierra Whack’s ‘Only Child’ is a break-up track. The subject matter is clear. We can recognize the trope from miles away. But Whack doesn’t succumb to the pressure to water her experiences down to the theatrical clichés. Instead, her clever lyrics present an honest commentary about herself that demonstrates the duality of strong emotional intelligence—the self that feels to endless depths verses the self that objectively observes and comments on those emotions. 

This commenting self is very difficult to capitalize on well, even for creatives. Not only is it challenging to be self-aware enough to cultivate that voice, but the public is often not self-aware enough to accept what it says. It’s no wonder so many writers choke up and rely on platitudes when trying to communicate the profound bitterness of a broken heart. Whack is not afraid of whether the public gets it though. She is bold and open in her songwriting, and the result of her fearless candidness is a style that’s completely unique. 

The instrumentation behind Whack’s vocals is very pared down and repeats a single phrase over and over again. It’s static like a wallpaper pattern—dreamy, ephemeral, shallow and a little weird, with a touch of psychedelia in the guitar effects. What I like most about ‘Only Child’ is the way Whack’s voice interacts with the instrumentation behind it. She maintains a lighthearted singsong that fits the catchy backdrop. But she intentionally cracks this singsong open at times and drops the timbre of her voice to create striking emotional swells. Whack’s commenting self and her feeling self are at odds with each other in a tug-of-war for control of the song, as her bitter, sometimes petty attacks on her ex-partner are at odds with the pain of accepting a failed relationship. 

There is raw emotional turmoil here in a surreal environment built as a coping mechanism. Like a clean, perfectly clear mountain pool that distorts your depth perception, it looks shallow but is deeper than you can imagine. ☔