Few scenes in the United States and abroad can compete with the general output of the New York underground, and this September, it’s presenting us with yet another one of its finer prodigies in the form of native east coaster Ty Blue, whose latest single “Occasionally” is causing quite the stir among critics this season. “Occasionally,” despite its title, is one of the more consistent R&B heavy-hitters I’ve listened to lately, and the biggest reason why it stings as hard as it does is the woman who brings its lyrics to life – all of which, I might add, feel real because of her eager delivery.
WEBSITE: https://www.tyblueentertainment.com/music
This master mix definitely feels like an underground product, but it works remarkably well with the style of grooving Ty Blue is employing for the track. There’s a lot of pressure coming off of the bassline, but we never feel smothered by it thanks to the buffering the percussion does between the melodic instrumentation and the swing of the lead vocal – a trick formerly employed as a standard among some of the retro funk acts considered king in their time. You can’t escape the sonic weight in “Occasionally,” but for the most part it’s never channeled into anything specifically aggressive in the four and a half minutes the song lasts.
The beat here is as loud and proud as it can get without stealing the attention away from the vocal at the top of the mix, and I like that it’s proportionate with the moxie we’re getting off of the other elements in the instrumentation as well. Everything here has been framed as to flow together and create a sense of fluidity as we move from one line to the next, and as easy as Ty Blue makes it seem with the microphone in her hand, what she’s pulling together in “Occasionally” is actually quite complex and respectably complicated.
Ty Blue’s lyrics aren’t quite as important as the very way they’re defined by her chosen vocal style in this single, but this isn’t to take anything away from the substance of the narrative they wholly construct on their own. Part of what makes “Occasionally” look and feel like a multidimensional effort is the fact that its instrumentation and poetry can be isolated from one another and utilized to interpret a much larger story being told to us here. This is a singer and songwriter with some statements of self to be made, and whether you pick up on them or not, they’re rather plentiful in this recent studio work.
DISTRO KID: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/tyblue1/occasionally
With a rhythmic assault as potent as this, there’s not a doubt in my mind that mainstream attention isn’t going to evade Ty Blue’s career in the 2020s – if anything, she’s already off to a great start of breaking through the boundary between the underground and primetime spotlights with the release of “Occasionally” this late summer season. There’s a lot of rivalry in this strain of R&B, but going off of the energy this artist has here, I would have to say she doesn’t sound the least bit intimidated by the idea of competition.
Troy Johnston