TiaCorine: "I Can't Wait"

TikTok staked its claim on the zeitgeist with Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road," but TiaCorine's 2018 megahit "Lotto" also made waves on the app during its rapid nascent.

The North Carolina-based artist created an instant anthem off of a playfully hostile injunction: "I don't give a fuck, I'll beat a bitch up/Scratch off like lotto, bitch try your luck." The track, which began from a rippling melody Corine thought of while showering, garnered tens of thousands of TikTok dances, and caused a frenzied bidding war among labels during a time when the divisive app was merely a novelty. "There's no secret formula," Tia said during an interview with Masked Gorilla, in response to labels asking how the track infiltrated Tik Tok. "I just made a cool song

Corine eventually landed on South Music Group, which currently features other Carolina artists like DaBaby and Toosii, and released her 2020 EP 34Corine-honing in on her ethereal "anime" trap sound with cadence-shifting earworm melodies and candy-coated beats (including a Cardo-produced song!).

Her effervescent sound garnered attention from superstar staples like SZA and Rico Nasty, and eventually lead to a deluxe project with DaBaby and Kenny Beats-the latter of whom formed a fruitful relationship with Corine through their collaboration on "Luigi."

The climax of this industry respect and cult success is Corine's official debut album I Can't Wait.

The project is aptly-titled, as Corine has spent the last nine years honing her sound and perfecting her vocals to add some treble. The hard work paid off, as Corine's capricious voice proves to be her strong suit on I Can't Wait, especially across a smorgasbord of styles that range from conventional pop punk to tightly-coiled rage trap, to brief stints with vibrant alternative. She glides on "Kite" with hypnotically propulsive auto-tune (a la Dej Loaf), speed races like a track star running the 100 meters on the energized "Dipset," reaches angelic heights on "Birds," and spits semi-automatic bullets on "Rocket" as the bass-heavy beat morphs into something that could score a Sci-Fi/horror hybrid.

"Chaka Khan," the club-ready Kenny Beats-produced track, exemplifies Tia's innate ability to attack or ride any beat with verve and ferocity, while other songs like The Neptunes-inspired "Boogie" speaks to her technicality and swagger, as she and Tony Shhhnow don out with measured precision and self-assuredness.

Another major draw with Corine is her colorful, and oftentimes impish, one-liners that dominate her rapping. Lines like "Ass can't fit in jeans, it's on top, look like muffin" on the propelling "Rocket," and" "I get top in the morning, so I feel like Baby Keem" on "FreakyT" exude her comedic sensibilities as she mounts each respective beat with the forceful tenacity of a Luke Cage fistfight.

A strong first half of the project does lead into a more uneven latter half. Some of the production on the backend, for instance, lacks some of the vibrancy and versatility that Tia possesses as an artist, as some beats and instrumentals prove too derivative for Tia's versatility, like the mundane "Pink" and the thematically overworked, though well-intentioned, "You Matter."

Despite these slight banalities, the final seven songs showcases nuggets of proof that Tia could successfully dabble with multiple styles if explored in interesting ways. Her modulating, sometimes even operatic, vocals on "Birds" and the tender R&B foray on the finale "You're Fired" are good indicators that Tia will continue to grow and find ulterior pockets to explore with her voice, even if a few second half beats don't always possess the same zeal.

All in all, I Can't Wait is a dynamic sample of what's to come for Tia. The North Carolina artist may have hit the lotto four years ago, but her new album proves that she is far from trying to stay in one place as a creator.

Rating: 7/10