Natanya’s ATTITUDE ERA! is a showcase for her zippy and inventive pop

“I’ve always been told by my friends that I’m very catlike,” she told The Fader earlier this year, and it's true that there's a certain slick craftiness at play across the ten songs that made up Acts I and II. Feline's Return positioned the 23-year-old Londoner as a shape-shifting pop phenom who blends recognisable melodies with gleeful bait-and-switches, unafraid to hitch her style to something of a learning curve. One track, “Guitar,” even went semi-viral for its alleged invention of a “brand new genre,” dragging her back into tired conversations that have dogged forward-thinking Black popstars like Ravyn Lenae, too. Her classy reply: “Natanya is a genre,” and ATTITUDE ERA! sets out to prove it. It seems pointless to describe an album as a love letter to music – aren’t they all? – but Natanya's new mixtape is obsessed with the artform, practically bouncing off the walls with the energy of someone explaining their passion. Better yet, it’s all controlled. Rarely does she doubt herself, and if she does she gets it out of the way quickly. Album opener “TICKET STOP” wonders if the financial cost of entering the music business is worth the stress. When do you quit your job and go all ...