ZIMM - Review by Lewis H

This playlist is called Zimm, it’s something that will make you feel a lot. There are 16 tracks by Zimm from a range of their albums, I’ll be reviewing all 16 tracks.

This post may contain mature or challenging content.

ZIMM - Review by Lewis H

This playlist is called Zimm, it’s something that will make you feel a lot – it’s not a happy playlist, although there are moments of lightness in it. It has 16 tracks by the rap artist Zimm, collated from a range of their albums and releases. I’ll be reviewing each of the songs from this playlist.

Ever After

The first song is called Ever After. I like how he uses the lyrics to clearly express his feelings and tell a story. He shows a lot of emotion throughout his work, including this song. I appreciate the rhyme scheme and how he has used the beats to amplify the sense of the rhyme.

Hopeless

This uses a similar beat to the first song. I like it because, again, he draws a lot of emotion into the rap and draws on his own experiences to help other people experiencing negative emotions to not feel alone. He’s connecting with the audience on an emotional level, which is a beautiful thing to do. It makes me feel a little unhappy, but it also makes me feel less alone, there are others experiencing the same emotion. I like the tempo of the rap and how he rhymes every word – it’s his specific style. Personally, I’d find the beat a little too slow to get into, but it’s his style. I don’t get along so well with beats that suddenly drop to piano and other instruments.

Problems

This is my favourite. I love the fact that you really feel connected to his emotions – you feel what he is feeling. He is an incredible storyteller. Anyone who has lost anyone can connect to the grief and sense of loss he is experiencing. He also gives an insight into the reality of street gang culture – 'the streets won’t look after you'. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a friend in those circumstances, but I can really connect to the feeling of loss. It made me connect on an emotional level that made me feel awed, speechless, and unsure of how I felt. It’s a really hard emotion to articulate, let alone create, you just feel it in your chest.

Haunted

I like how he is being really real with his audience about how he is feeling. I like the slow pace of the backing beat, it works really well with the faster pace of the beat. I like the conflict between the two, it means when he speeds up we have to sit up and listen to what he’s telling us.

Love Me When I’m Gone

I like this as he talks really engagingly about the conflict between wanting to make it, but also the stress and problems that come with that. Again, I think he allows his emotions to work through his rap really effectively – I love it. I like the creativity of bringing in a second voice temporarily but it’s not my favourite moment. I particularly like his use of puns and word play, like ‘I’m going to pick up the pen and write in cursive’

Long Number

First gut reaction to this is WOW. Again, he’s honest, he talks about his past mistakes and how he dealt with depression, it’s a really powerful. His technique he uses regularly in speeding up and increasing volume helps focus the listener at the key moments – you start to realise how honest he is being with you. I like that he named it after a helpline number to help more people not have to go through what he went through.

Losing my Mind

This is a very relatable song in terms of the content – how people leaving you can hurt, but that your music is the one thing that will always be there with you. It’s a comforting thought. I also really like the line ‘take a day, from the bottle on the shelf  but **** that, I’d rather feel something than nothing.  I hide my pain with a smile they don’t make no assumptions’. It’s such an impactful lyric – the fear of medication is really strong. It reflects that it is a big step to ask for help. I like the singing parts he brought into that rap – they changed the rhythm up to keep your attention – he sang the specific parts that he really wanted us to hear.

Raw Intro

'They don’t know my pain, they don’t know my past, they don’t know I hate everything I am and there’s so much **** that I can’t take back'. I absolutely love the final acapella section of the rap – it’s another way of changing the rhythm or sound to reel you back in and really pay attention. I like the message about him being human and having feelings despite his success – again this is something I worry about. Fame is a great thing to chase, but there is always a consequence to what you do.

Love songs U’ll Never Hear

‘I went from having no one to having a million people singing along’ this is a really strong point to make 20 seconds into the song. He already has me hooked. I like the lyric about loving all imperfections even though she is perfect to him. It’s a really sweet and relatable lyric, I also like that he says he loves how independent she is but she is worth more than anything he earns. I love the title – I interpret him as him saying that it’s his experience, you’ll never hear it because it’s a unique experience for the two people involved. It’s beautiful. I think it’s interesting he positions losing her as a consequence of his music career and I can understand how much that can hurt.

Everybody dies in their nightmares

Again – he captures my attention right away, really strong opening lyrics to this track again and very relatable. All of the lyrics are brilliant and subtle but truthful – like ‘a lie never said’. I interpret this as us all living behind a lie of happiness that isn’t really there. The conflict between medication and feeling like yourself is really interesting to me. Also – you can really see this in his body and hear it in his vocal delivery how much he is hurting. If you really listen you can hear how he is raising and straining his voice just slightly. There’s an interesting expression of wanting to be left alone with his thoughts whilst also being brave enough to share it with us. You can see his relief at the end of the video – it’s not easy performing which is relatable to me. I feel like emotion is really key to my performances too.

First Off

The first lyric again is very strong and relatable and I love the opening track – different to what to you hear in rap but very effective. 'Here doing everything I said I can’t' – definitely a relatable lyric. ‘I put my life onto the page and they feel my pain’ very relatable for me as an artist as this reflects my approach. He says he can only run so far before his feelings start catching up with him and grabbing at his heart. Build a career off what he can. I appreciate that he is expressing how he feels – I listen to his songs on a relatable level rather than listening to it to feel space whilst doing something else. It demands connection – I really love songs that demand you listen to what they say. I also like that he is focused on writing for people that are also feeling the same way.

Monsters

I like how he describes his problems metaphorically as monsters. The storytelling is clear – it’s about someone he got close to and who is now using his personal problems against him.  I like the line 'even Judas loved Jesus' – I think it’s an interesting concept to go off. I feel like he’s explaining through the metaphor of roses that love is not harmless. He’s telling really engaging stories through his lyrics. I think it’s quite interesting that he ends on a long pause – it makes me want to know and listen to more.

Confused

I love the lyric 'How can I swim if I’m drowning?' – I think it’s a relatable lyric and the metaphor is very clear. I also like 'I used to be on top of the world, now it’s on top of my shoulders'. He’s talking about relatable feelings in a creative way. I like how he is saying that if he could carry all of their pain he would – which is a nice statement to share. I liked how he used a different beat compared to the earlier music I’ve reviewed – I feel like there is more texture to this track than some of the others, which I enjoy.

Carry On

It’s interesting how he introduces this song – it’s quite unique, I like that he’s broken his normal routine. Different is always good, you don’t want it to be the same otherwise it gets boring. The lyrics in this track are again very powerful, i.e. 'they don’t hate me like I hate myself'. It’s again the lyrics in this track that I find engaging and powerful. The way he tries to explain that he’s grateful for the help, but that he’s finding it more stressful than it is speaks to you as an audience member – his songs are relatable, so you feel connected to them. Also – that he expresses a concern that people can’t help him with his emotions. All his performances are very emotional and heartfelt.

In the Stars

I like the intro of this song – I like how it’s completely different again from his normal intros and hooks to his music, it re-captivates you. The lyrics are, again, very powerful, he’s very honest about difficult topics, such as self-harm and issues with drugs. He’s using art to express difficult conversations. It’s impactful how he uses real-life problems in his work. I love the lyric 'She fell in love with the stars' – it’s a really interesting lyric to me.

Focused

I liked how he says he doesn’t care what other people thought of what he was doing – people weren’t really supporting him but he did it anyway. 'Lionhearted and it runs through my veins, just like a phoenix I rise from the flames'. I like the expression of pride and how that enables him to overcome everything. I really love the phoenix metaphor. I enjoy how he plays with words and rhyme whilst expressing an important message – he finds the humour in it. It’s serious but there’s a cocky personality coming through too. 'When they say you can’t, you don’t have to listen'. Just because someone says you can’t that doesn’t mean you need to listen to them. This resonated with me. The language – the playing with the word simp – is really clever and exciting. I also like the message that he’s happy to do stuff for himself, he’s not asking for any help. I think this song speaks to me in encouraging me to go out and go for it – not letting anyone or anything stop you. I like that he’s sticking it to people who say he can’t do something when he can –  as a audience member who uses a wheelchair that really sticks out to me. His lyrics feel really real and authentic – I feel the same desire to make people around me and who may no longer be around proud. I like how he speaks to the listener directly, as well as to himself, and I like that split audience. It’s like he is giving us a pep talk as well as himself – I know times are tough but you don’t need to go back to that. It shows us as an audience member that it’s good to have motivation and drive, and that needs to come from within yourself. It’s so good! 

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