→ Thundercat’s
new album,
It Is What It Is,
meditates on life,
death, and the
great beyondThundercat’s
Awakening
SINCE 2018 THE PROLIFIC BASSIST
WEATHERED A FRIEND’S DEATH,
CHOSE SOBRIETY, AND MADE IT IS
WHAT IT IS, A SOMBER (YET UNDENI-
ABLY FUNKY) ALBUM THAT TACKLES
BIG QUESTIONS. By Alex SuskindSuccess hit Thundercat unexpect-
edly. “I feel like I woke up in it,”
says the singer-bassist, whose
funky, futuristic, jazz-fusion album
Drunk—along with his work on
Kendrick Lamar’s seminal To Pimp
a Butterfly—led to him playing
to massive crowds and getting
stopped by strangers on the
street. “Somebody [will be] holding
the camera when I’m standing
somewhere; it’s like, ‘Don’t take
[a picture of me] picking my nose.’ ”
It Is What It Is, the musician’s
latest effort (out April 3), again
mixes his goofball humor with wry
observations and galactic bass
riffs (see: singles “Dragonball
Durag,” which plays like an ad for
Adult Swim, and “Black Qualls”).
The record also represents monu-
mental change for the 35-year-old.
One of his best friends, rapper Mac
Miller, died in 2018 of an accidental
drug overdose. “It was hard for
me to accept Mac leaving,” says
Thundercat, who decided to stop
drinking following Miller’s death.
His spirit hovers over much of the
new record, including in its title.
“It makes things feel a bit better,”
says Thundercat of the phrase.
“ ‘It is what it is.’... It’s like strikes
and gutters, ups and downs. You
take your hits and move on.”SAM HUNT’S SECOND ALBUM HAS
been a long time coming. Since his
2014 debut, Montevallo, the country
singer has ridden the singles-heavy
streaming wave to massive success:
In 2017, he released the winking
“Body Like a Back Road,” which
was big enough to hit No. 1 on mul-
tiple Billboard year-end country
charts. In the ensuing years, Hunt
dropped a handful of songs that
blended Nashville tropes—heart-
broken lyrics, big choruses—with
hip-hop-inspired beats and
cadences that subtly resembled
rap. Those, along with “Body” and
a few new tracks, are collected on
his sophomore effort.
Southside is, for most of its 12
songs, a showcase for Hunt’s affable
charm and playlist-era approach to
making music. “Hard to Forget”
flips the 1953 ballad “There Stands
the Glass” by honky-tonker Webb
Pierce into a reggae-lite beat. “Kin-
folks” is a snappy devotional, its
bright guitars framing Hunt’s joy atfinding a partner. The lightly glum
“Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90’s,”
meanwhile, finds Hunt musing over
romance’s tendency to tether peo-
ple (like himself ) to their phones in
a sung-spoken cadence.
“That Ain’t Beautiful” is the only
real misstep, with Hunt taking on
the tone of a passive-aggressive
email to a frenemy as he tut-tuts the
wayward behavior—wearing too
much makeup, taking Adderall,
overspending—of a young woman
over atmospheric guitars. It sounds
pretty on its surface, but its petti-
ness and lack of narrative arc feel
off. Perhaps it was included because
of the apologies that bracket the
record, and Hunt’s belief in redemp-
tion. Opening track “2016” is a
spacious ballad about giving up
the vices that made a year in his love
life difficult. And closer “Drinkin’
Too Much” is disarmingly straight-
forward about the way Hunt’s
career affected a relationship. It has
a happy ending—he married the
woman its lyrics were aimed at a few
months after its release in 2017—
that gives an extra lift to Southside’s
portrayals of modern life and
love. B+ —MAURA JOHNSTONSAM HUNTALBUM SOUTHSIDE
LABEL MCA NASHVILLE
GENRE COUNTRY84 APRIL 2020 EW ● COMHUNT: CONNOR DWYER; THUNDERCAT: PARKER DAYAPRIL2020.MUSIC3.LO.indd 84 FINAL 3/3/20 2:31 PM