The final track on adan diaz’ ah-dawn is the EP’s lead single, “Young Picasso.” The bittersweet piano ballad about unrequited love is the only song of the seven that sounds this way. The rest of the EP is filled with quirky uptempo tracks that blur the line between emo hip hop, pop punk, and electro. Coincidentally, “Young Picasso” is also the least mainstream sounding song of the bunch. So why choose an album outlier as the lead single for a collection otherwise filled with bangers?
It feels like an overcorrection for mistakes from decades past. An artist like Cuco experienced his first major success with the novelty song “CR-V,” a quirky ditty about not having any game because of driving the compact SUV. The rest of Cuco’s output was fairly serious psychedelic pop but many in the industry still hoped for the novelty success that “CR-V” had. In this case, adan diaz’s EP feels a lot like “CR-V” with its mixture of self-deprecating humor, lovelorn poetry, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics but to not get pigeonholed, he released the most serious track first.
The most obvious single on the album is “Jerkx2.” Over bouncy guitar arpeggios, diaz sings about some who has a “cigarette on your terrace/angel hair for breakfast” which recalls Rick Ross boasting “Am I really just a narcissist?/’Cause I wake up to a bowl of lobster bisque.” This all before breaking into a guitar-fueled chorus of “I wish I was more like you/learn how to talk to parents/I wish I was more like you/You have a mansion out in Paris/I wish I was more like you/but I’ll never be that I’m a jerk times two.” It is catchy. It’s irreverent. It sounds like a hit.
Similarly, opening track “Shake Shake” is pure fun. Jaunty drums and rhythm guitar back his lyrics “She said imagine this/Hands on my waist/Teach you what magic/You told me to write you a song/I said i love you then retracted it/I retracted it.” The ability to write couplets that balance snottiness and heartbreak separate diaz from the toxic emo masculinity of the 2000s but keep him from straying into novelty territory.
That tricky lyrical balance is not unique to adan diaz but it is for someone who is only 20 years old. diaz shows an ability far beyond his years on ah-dawn. It just makes me wish the album had a better lead single.
Rating: 7.5/10
