This is the kind of properly sweary, mouthy aggression anthem that makes the Kid Laroi’s 'Without You' sound like a child whining into a hairbrush in front of his bedroom mirror. (Even Gayle’s cover art knocks his into a cocked hat.) Which makes it a bit of a shame that it feels like such a rip-off of the second half of Billie Eilish’s recent diss-hit 'Happier Than Ever' – albeit a little faster and transposed up a fourth. On the bright side, though, it does offer the opportunity for a bit of mash-up fun… ABCDEFGHappier Than Ever: play_arrow | get_app

That said, there are plenty of production details to enjoy here. The transition effect before the choruses (0:14, 1:01, and 1:56) is quite cool, combining a downwards phaser/filter-style tonal sweep with an upwards pitch sweep, and I also like the reverse-reverb-like effect that transitions out of the arrangement breakdown at 1:35 (under the words “couldn’t take it”). The subtle crunchy percussion layer that arrives for the second half of the second chorus at 1:21 provides a nice energy lift there, and in the following verse the cool spot reverb effect on “[a]-bove” (1:42) sounds, judging by the stereo Sides signal, as if it might have been fed from a different vocalist. And don’t miss that nifty little triplet kick-drum fill before the final choruses at 1:58.

The lead vocal here has a particularly saturated and dense ‘air’ to it at the high end, but it’s nonetheless reasonably smooth-sounding, which is an impressive balancing act from a mix-engineering perspective. Well-controlled sibilance is of course part of the recipe, but I suspect there’s some specialist upper-spectrum dynamics processing going on as well to keep the breathiness quite as eerily consistent as this.

Given how hyper-present and saturated the lead-vocal HF is, it’s interesting to hear how dull and lo-fi the vocal reverb is in the stereo Sides signal. Dull reverbs are common for long-tail vocal treatments in ballads (as on plenty of Adele’s hits), so it’s something I associate less with uptempo numbers like this, but I shouldn’t really be surprised. After all, it stands to reason, really. You see, the stark contrast between the wet and dry signals helps separate them perceptually, enhancing the sense that the vocal is upfront compared with the reverb – and this record, like a lot of pop, is all about the lead vocal!

And while we’re on the subject of the vocal, notice how this song doesn’t just start on the downbeat. It starts with the singer taking a breath. Somehow, I think this makes the opening more engaging from the outset – it’s kind of like you’re getting a little warning that the song’s about to start, so you’re more ready to process it mentally. At the other end of the song, though, maybe it’s just me, but I really wish she’d ended with something like, “and actually even your dog too…”