OBK CHANNEL

Category: Pop

  • He Can Do Both • Nephew Khalid Balances Club Hits Candid Confessions after the sun goes down

    He Can Do Both • Nephew Khalid Balances Club Hits Candid Confessions after the sun goes down

    Released on October 10, 2025, via RCA Records.

    In a world that demands conformity it takes a special kind of bravery to stand tall in your truth Nephew Khalid has done just that with his radiant fourth studio album after the sun goes down a 16-track declaration of self-acceptance exhaling years after holding his breath. This project isn’t just a collection of songs; it’s a luminous testament to his authenticity. 

    Through Khalid decision to openly embrace his identity, including his preference for dating boys😂, opposites attract demonboy he demonstrates remarkable strength and authenticity. Coming out is often described as a significant challenge, particularly when external pressures urge one to reveal their true self before feeling fully prepared. Yet, Khalid has navigated this moment with grace. This milestone transcends a single act of courage, it’s about, the ongoing journey. Khalid, like many, navigates authentic living in a challenging society. The true question isn’t “How to become a better man?” but “How to become one’s fullest self?”—a universal struggle. Khalid’s path reminds us that growth is personal, continuous, and profoundly human with his family’s enduring support.

    The album explores gay love with all its playful, messy, and romantic moments. Songs like in plain sight have danceable energy with lyrics that express being seen and feeling confident. The music and lyrical content create an experience for the dance floor or moments of reflection or cleaning if you not a dirty ass. 

    out of body co-produced by Darkchild is an exciting club track with b-side beats that make you want to hit the dancefloor. 

    The opener medicine sets a sultry tone with slinky basslines and whispered confessions: showcasing Khalid’s smooth vocals and layered harmonies that convey yearning and resilience.

    OBK

    The emotional depth of Khalid’s artistry shines in tracks such as please don’t call (333) a heart-wrenching ballad that captures the bittersweet struggle of setting boundaries after a bad-romance. Its delicate piano and Khalid’s quivering vocals deliver each plea with soul-baring honesty, lingering as a quiet ache in the listener’s heart. On the other hand rendezvous is a charming upbeat gem that radiates playful allure. Its lively rhythm and coy lyrics paint a vivid picture of stolen glances and late-night moments that spark a flutter of excitement.

    Merging soul-stirring vulnerability with vibrant charm, crafting a listening experience that captures the heart’s quiet pain and playful energy with striking clarity and depth his vocal versatility and lyrical precision shine, though the polished production occasionally overshadows his raw intimacy, balancing accessibility with authenticity.

    With after the sun goes down, Khalid delivers a bold, tender, and timely evolution of pop—one that embraces queerness not as subtext but as central truth. In a genre polished to perfection, his emotional honesty cuts through, even when slick production sometimes smooths over the rawest edges. The album doesn’t try to be a spectacle or make a political statement—it just exists, calmly and confidently, in its truth. That quiet normalcy is revolutionary in itself. It tells listeners, especially baguette  ones, that love, longing, and self-discovery deserve space in the mainstream without needing to be justified. Still, this album pulses with life, offering a deeply personal yet universally resonant journey of love, loss, and self-discovery. For its fearless storytelling, vocal finesse, and cultural significance, after the sun goes down scores [8.6].

    Blending infectious pop, ’80s-inspired grooves, and pulse-pounding dance beats, Khalid turns his personal story into songs about love, heartbreak, and liberation that grab you and don’t let go — a luminous milestone in Khalid’s career and a quietly groundbreaking moment in modern pop.

  • OBK REACTS: Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl is A Glittering, Giddy Victory Lap Through Love and Limelight

    OBK REACTS: Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl is A Glittering, Giddy Victory Lap Through Love and Limelight

    In the whirlwind aftermath of her introspective album The Tortured Poets Department Taylor Swift returns with The Life of a Showgirl—her twelfth studio album and a dazzling pivot back to unapologetic pop euphoria. Released on October 3, 2025, this 12-track collection feels like a love letter to domestic bliss, wrapped in the sequins and spotlights of Swift’s enduring fascination with fame’s double-edged sword. Co-produced with longtime collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, the record swaps brooding poetry for infectious melodies and playful storytelling, channeling retro soft rock, ‘80s disco-pop flourishes, and even hints of trap and reggae into a harmonious haze of acoustic guitars, atmospheric synths, and multitracked vocals that soar into ad-libbed crescendos.

    Gwen Stefani is not the only White Nubian Queen who can pop out with the ska drums mid-career.

    The Life of a Showgirl: It’s Swift at her most relaxed and radiant, basking in the glow of her real-life romance with Travis Kelce while slyly shading exes, industry gatekeepers, and cultural critics along the way. The result? A record that’s equal parts whimsical escape and whip-smart commentary—lighthearted enough to soundtrack a spontaneous road trip, yet layered with the kind of incisive wit that reminds us why Swift remains pop’s sharpest scribe.

    At its core, The Life of a Showgirl is a celebration of settling into joy after chaos, with themes of loyalty, redemption, and the quiet thrill of a peaceful domestic partnership threading through straightforward love songs and reflective vignettes on past heartaches. Opener ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ sets a Shakespearean tone.

    What elevates The Life of a Showgirl from solid pop fare to something truly addictive is its standout tracks, each a gem that showcases Swift’s chameleon-like versatility. ‘Actually Romantic,’ the album’s seventh cut at a punchy 2:43, is a gleeful diss track masquerading as a flirtation, with Swift flipping the script on obsession (read: a cheeky nod to Charli XCX’s ‘Sympathy Is a Knife’) into something empowering and flirty. The track’s brevity is its strength, distilling pettiness into pure pop propulsion.

    Then there’s ‘Wi$h Li$t’ (stylized with that cheeky dollar sign), a 3:27 anthem of grounded ambition that trades champagne wishes for cozy realities. Over banjo-tinged riffs and a reggae-laced melody, Swift lists her true desires—a quiet home, loyal love—dismissing material excess. It’s the album’s emotional anchor, blending vulnerability with vintage Swift storytelling.

    Pardon the reach—pause; ‘Wood’ is the record’s boldest double entendre, using redwood imagery to knock on wood for good fortune while slyly celebrating her lover’s “It’s a dick on the phone.” With grunge-touched guitars and a playful trap beat drop, it’s raunchy yet romantic, Swift’s breathy delivery turning innuendo into anthemic glee.

    Swift positions herself among the ridiculed figures of pop history, interpolating industry beefs into a defiant groove of handclaps and horn stabs in ‘CANCELLED!’ It’s empowering without bitterness, the kind of track that could rally a stadium crowd, blending social commentary with dance-floor energy. 

    Skip to ‘Honey’ for the album’s thesis.

    If The Life of a Showgirl occasionally prioritizes polish over profundity—leaving some yearning for the raw edges of her folk eras—it’s hard to deny its contagious joy. The title track, a duet with Sabrina Carpenter, ties it all together as a resilient showgirl facing exploitation with wry wisdom and a spoken outro from Swift’s final Eras show. In a year that’s seen Swift dominate headlines, this album isn’t her most revolutionary, but it’s one of her most purely pleasurable—a glittering reminder that even icons need nights off to just fall in love. Rating: 8.6/10. Stream it, spin the orange glitter vinyl, and let the show go on.

  • Instruments jump out speakers from track one on Doja Cat fifth studio album ‘Vie’ [7/10]

    Instruments jump out speakers from track one on Doja Cat fifth studio album ‘Vie’ [7/10]

    Since we are talking about rap girlies and liner notes produced in part by Jack Antonoff when does producer find the time to create sitting on the Bleachers.

    “Dealing out the cards, baby, watch me play my hand.” Lyrics hitting on relationships like a game? Smart. The production is crisp, got that pop-rap vibe.

    Few hard beat drops with those trap elements mixed with her signature playfulness Doja Cat has blessed the atmosphere with another project and by design it’s nothing like her previous work. 

    One might appreciate the song “Paint the Town Red” and be willing to wait at her station if her music were shuffled to support her financially, alongside others who navigate multiple ventures, as that reflects how the music industry is promoted today.

    The genre Doja Cat wants to be in, hopefully not bluegrass, has not had a culture pull like the genre her last album has (Queen so special she might be only artist to release a rap album on DSP n it also not go in Hip-Hop). Coming-of-the-age record ‘Take Me Dancing (feat. SZA)’ the only record with a featured artist is Pop forcing. Who in Pop sings with as much funk as either artist on this record in the past few years. Shit, who another black pop artist because “they don’t just let one of do it” and even Khalid gay ass RNB. 

    Not as sharp as ‘Kiss Me More’ but that crossover energy is fresh. Their voices blend so well on ‘Take Me Dancing’ over the funk-pop beat. Doja’s taking risks, and it pays off. 

    Their voices blend perfectly, soulful pop perfection. Doja and SZA chemistry? Iconic. Big Time Poster. 10/10, no cap!

    Nothing says I am an old bitch like ‘Couples Therapy’. The song features a Black woman rapping over 808 beats, with a loop that may or may not be sampled.

    Gorgeous, if Steve Harvey surveyed 100 people, would it be a crime to disagree that three of the top five answers do not match the genre described? If someone knows those answers are incorrect in a subject they studied but still tried to present them as accurate, what might they attempt to misrepresent in a subject where the other person lacks knowledge?

    Everything sound like vibe music. Where are the excursions. 

    Yes ‘Stranger’ – I mean no – I don’t like dick and wow this is specific and we are early into the album. Doja’s humor shines. The whole thang cohesive but playful, not boxed in ‘Acts Of Service’ and ‘Make It Up’ depart from the retro a bit for more modern rap flair. 

    After the rap-heavy ‘Scarlet,’ this feels like her reclaiming that glossy pop magic from ‘Hot Pink’ and ‘Planet Her,’ but with a nostalgic twist inspired by Prince, Janet Jackson, and those mega-cheesy sax solos found in the middle of movies while display gave a scenic view of the landscape. 

    Everyone’s sold—miss the high-energy weirdness of old Doja—but this feels like her finding equilibrium as a rapper making pop.

    Halfway through, and Vie is cohesive but never boring—zappy synths, slapping bass, and sporadic bluesy chords keep it grooving: ‘Lipstain’ is a slow-burning, seductive hip-hop/R&B track designed to make hearts race and bodies sway. It’s the kind of song that feels like a private conversation between the artist and the listener, with a beat that’s equal parts sensual and commanding. The vibe is Destiny’s Child’s ‘Cater to You’ meets The Weeknd’s moody charisma, with a modern hip-hop edge. The lyrics are flirty, confident, and playful—celebrating desire, connection, and that magnetic pull of attraction. The title “Lipstain” evokes intimacy, leaving a mark, and lingering presence, like lipstick on a collar or a memory you can’t shake.

    The track is built for a live performance moment where the artist locks eyes with the crowd, slows the tempo, and creates a shared experience. Toward the end, she orchestrates a unified crowd gesture—hands raised in sync—for a photo-op that’s as much about capturing the moment as it is about flexing for the ‘Gram.

    It’s pop-heavy, ’80s-inspired, with love and life vibes. Themes of romance, desire, and unapologetic. If it ain’t dance and if it ain’t a sub-genre in pop that dominates the genre infrastructure we will take it at the Hip-Hop picnik.