
4 a.m. clicked, and the city sent its citizens to sleep, all but a few: the drivers seeking nightclub addicts, and the ones on an after-hours expedition. On a lonely intersection, BEBE YANA surged past the red lights. No consideration for the law, no thought about the consequences. She claimed the oyster, the world at her fingertips as she pulsed the acceleration. A forest of street lamps glinted like an exhibition as you crossed each block. “Vroom, vroom, I’ve been in and out the city,” the former EVOL member chants while enjoying the panorama: $2 taquitos on the sidewalk, and a 7-Eleven cashier scanning another Camel purchase.
For such its high-speed nature, YANA’s newest single feels rather complete. Cool synth pads and feedback mystify the track’s nimble structure, the same way they contrast this sturdy 2-step beat with a melting-like quality. By the first minute, she breezes through the chorus twice, though she quickly includes a vocoder, turntables, string motifs, and so on. Momentum dictates the power that “VROOM VROOM” clasps, refusing to drop it, like a supercut squeezing every clip before the fadeout. A pause ushers in before the beat switch, an almost jungle-like rhythm. As the conductor slips into restlessness, YANA’s soprano goes as well into a spiral until the drag race reaches its apex. “Always I’ll keep you in mind,” she sings, pacing through the urban decay with as much reflection as with excitement. “Thinking of all the things that we did, boy / don’t wanna kill this vibe.” Not much stands in her way for a greater joyride. It only seems, however, that she wonders what’s more rewarding, the destination or the journey to it.
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