“Style so rare, it’s hard to describe it/ They cannot replace me with no other” – Tierra Whack on INVITATION.
It’s been six long years since Tierra Whack released her debut mixtape, Whack World. In 2024, she has graced us with her first true album, notable considering that she’s already headlined festivals, toured the world and collaborated with some of the biggest artists in rap and R&B without one. Her last solo release came three years ago and, foreshadowing the album, was a collection of three experimental EPs, each with three songs, titled R&B?, Pop? and Rap?
WORLD WIDE WHACK was worth the wait, a collection of songs that traverse a huge emotional and stylistic range and still somehow fit together like a carefully curated palette. Tierra paints an incredibly introspective portrait of her life through this 15-song, 38 minute journey.
While songs like MS BEHAVE, X and INVITATION feel like standard premises for songs that are elevated and handled with a unique touch, the majority of this album deals with subjects far less common. Perhaps the strangest of all, SHOWER SONG, is about how great it feels to sing in the shower and sound like all of your favorite artists (Whitney, Britney, Aretha and Alicia are name-checked) and is grounded by an absurdly fat and squishy bassline in an otherwise sonically spacious track. IMAGINARY FRIENDS, the seventh song on the album, bears a hook as strange as it is impossible to get out of your head with rap verses that feel Pharcyde-esque in flow and word choice.
Similar to recent releases by SZA and Doja Cat, WORLD WIDE WHACK bears no respect for adherence to genre conventions, something this reviewer deeply appreciates. It’s a great listen and worth keeping in the rotation for the rest of the year, if you don’t mind the deep melancholy threads that weave throughout the album.
WORLD WIDE WHACK is also the first solo release by Tierra Whack to feature her actual likeness in the album art, fitting for her most intimate album to date.
Find Tierra Whack on Instagram @tierrawhack and hear her on the Philly Soul Now 2024 New Music Playlist.