Kacy Hill - Like A Woman

Kacy Hill
Like A Woman
2017
Spotify

When you see the name Kacy Hill you may be scratching your head. She doesn't have much in terms of a musical catalog and before this record was a model and backup dancer. She was discovered by Kanye on his Yeezus tour while she was one of his dancers and signed to G.O.O.D. Music then put out this debut Like A Woman. From the start the album is moody, sensual and downtempo rarely skewing away from those vibes. The first thing you notice is the lack of personality this album has. The first track like a woman tries to harness the idea of denying someone sexually despite the carnal feelings you may have for them. The music video also shows Hill masturbating (simulated) in different places perhaps trying to catch the wave of female sexual empowerment spearheaded by the likes of Tove Lo. Yet Hill's version is so vapid, so base level that it makes you doubt that a woman came up with the idea at all. This whole record just feels like a plan to break a new edgy pop princess but it just falls so flat. "Hard to Love" is the one song that has some teeth and is in a place where Kacy can actually sing it, but it is a bright spot in a bunch of darkness. She can barely hit the high notes in the song and the strained sound is a damn ear beating. The futuristic minimalist production barely moves the needle and sounds like someone trying to imitate a Kayne type sound, while still making sure it is palpable for a wider audience. It fails at almost every turn, shrinking to nothing more than background noise at points.

There are times on this record where it is so boring that it is actually hard to pay attention. Her voice does not help, she just sounds so strained and like she is always reaching for the track rather than setting it. Her pinning tone wears so thin towards the end of the album, she sounds just a little better than the girl you know who always says she's a great singer but a lot of that might be autotune. There are so many opportunities to be bombastic, push a track further or set something free but Hill and whoever produced this thing are so content for average, and in doing so fall below. All this culminates with "Lion" where she actually sings the lyric "you woke the lion" over a track that could not be more quiet. DJDS handle some of the production duties, but their sound is nowhere on this record which is just so odd. Why wouldn't Kanye put the full force of G.O.O.D. Music behind this if He thought she might be a big crossover hit? No one who comes to G.O.O.D. Music is coming for this kind of stuff. There are better versions of Kacy Hill; Verete, Te Shi, Marian Hill and I could go on but save it say if you are looking for this kind of music there are far better examples of it out there. On Like A Woman I have to take a hard pass.

4.2 out of 10