#67
Avg: 6.882
Highest: 10x1 (
@WarmBlood11)
Lowest: 4x2 (
@TRAVVV;
@phily693)
My Vote: 8
Worth It (feat. Iamsu) for: the narrative
I was looking forward to writing this write-up, so in a way I’m not that mad this was the first offering from second mixtape Reverie to be kicked out. But still, what were you thinking when you were underscoring this? Did the narrative completely pass you by? Don’t worry, I’ll explain it in a minute.
The song is about a girl (Tinashe, presumably), who is unexpectedly being kissed by her girl friend. Problem is, even though she doesn’t mind it, they’re not alone, and Tinashe inevitably crumbles down to the social pressure put into place by heteronormativity: at first she “tries to resist”, then she comes up with the best excuse she can, she “needs a man again”, and finally rejects her. But make no mistake: “Ever since I met you what I think of love has changed / Made me question my perception everything was rearranged”. It’s clear what her true feelings are. But she’s “selfish”, she doesn’t want to sacrifice her stable social position and expose herself as something other than strictly heterosexual. It’s not a sweet story, but it’s poignant, and relatable, and it’s important that we have someone out there writing songs about these kind of stories. Even though it references a specific set of events, it’s a safe bet stating all of us have gone through similar feelings at some point in our life. And it takes a great deal of courage to sing about LGBT+ issues, but it takes an even greater one painting yourself in such a negative light as she does here. Tinashe is a complete loser here: she loses as a lover, she loses as a member of society, and, worst of all, she loses as a person. But what’s important is she ultimately wins, in the only she can: using her platform to inform as many people as possible of her experience.
Now, if we had to talk strictly about this song’s sound, I’d have far less celebratory words. It’s interesting, albeit a bit short, but its potential is let down by the production, which completely drowns the track rather than making it shine. It’s really no surprise its producer, TroobAdore, has never done anything else of note before or since. I mean, judge by yourselves:
I feel like I have to school you a lot for this result. I bet if you had dug more into the song’s meaning, you’d have appreciated it much more. Instead, you (rightly) focused on the shortcomings of its production and general sound.
Touchofmyhand (6.5) finds it ''Good, but unremarkable. It gets lost in the middle''. I hope after this write-up you’ll find it a little bit more remarkable. And
Andy French (9) echoes my sentiment: “WHY IS THIS NOT LONGER.” YEAH WHY ARE YOU ALREADY THE LAST PIECE OF COMMENTARY FROM THE VOTERS. I mean, I know I used constantino in the opening and I could’ve used his words here but still.