Around April last year, during my search for up-and-coming artists, I came across Bakar’s electric performance of his rock-punk-hip-hop song Scott Free on the COLORS Youtube channel. At first, I didn’t think too much of him and his singles out until I heard his feature on Yeek’s Sebastian (2017), and Bakar’s own freshman project Badkid. Coming from Camden Town, Bakar is a rising multi-genre artist now joining the ranks of other non-grime UK artists like Rex Orange County, Cosmo Pyke, and Jorja Smith.
My first impression of Badkid was very positive. At 11 tracks long, I felt that Bakar was able to express whatever style of music he wanted to while also creating and solidifying his sound in his first project. The mixtape generally jumps around from classic rock with a hint of familiarity to mellow indie to everything energetic in between. As for the buzz and response the project got, Bakar has put himself on the radar with Big Dreams at over 1.3 million plays on Spotify.
Below are my three standout songs that could all be used to describe Bakar and the whole project in general.
TRACK 2: UNHEALTHY
Unhealthy has a mellow beat and a very repetitive hook creating this almost sinking feeling into the instrumental only 2 songs in. The monotone execution of the first 30 seconds of the track lets his voice (and his accent) carry the lyrics while still following the production. The production and the writing are both the standout part of Unhealthy, with the somber lyrics pairing with equally somber keys.
TRACK 10: ALL IN
All In throws Bakar into the indie ring with a jam song all about a girl. The drums set the pace for this track with the “indie” sound created by the 5 strum guitar riffs sprinkled across the entire song. All In is definitely my favorite song on Badkid with it’s catchy hook and clever wordplay that dances around Bakar’s own London accent.
TRACK 11: BIG DREAMS
Big Dreams is punchy. An upbeat alternative indie rock song (produced by previous collaborator Yeek) about Bakar’s younger brother and never giving up does a great job at wrapping up the Badkid project on a very strong foot. Big Dreams is Bakar’s most in-your-face song, even making it onto the FIFA 19 Soundtrack along the likes of Childish Gambino, Billie Eilish, and Logic. Along with these American artists, Bakar joins the UK roster on the soundtrack with artists like grime rapper Bugzy Malone and superstar Rex Orange County. As regarded by many Youtube comments, Big Dreams is “the most FIFA sounding song there is”.
OVERALL: 7/10
Unfortunately, a few songs just did not stick with me as much as the 3 songs listed above did. WTF has Bakar’s voice in a pitched up along an experimental beat that didn’t pique my interest. 4am instantly reminded me of Frank Ocean and his intro to No Churches In The Wild, while the ending of the track slaps quick snares that in my opinion, doesn’t quite fit the mood of the somber song from the beginning. The rest of the album is well put together and just the right amount of time.
With high praises from Elton John himself, UK grime legend Skepta, and Off-White CEO Virgil Abloh, Bakar is on track to be the next hot artist flying out of London. With FIFA 19 coming out on September 28, 2018, I do think that Bakar is going to double if not triple in audience size due to All In being on the soundtrack.
Bakar has an incredible amount of time on his hands to both explore any genres he wants to and properly break out into the scene and I wish him all the best.
Follow Bakar on Instagram, Twitter, and look out for any new releases. I am sure you would be surprised on what Bakar has in his own artistic arsenal.
