31 August 2018
If you wanted a hit single in 2017-18, clearly you first had to sound somewhat sad-to-morose, then steer a course between the dreary folk-pop of Ed Sheeran and the dreary trap-hop of Drake. George Ezra’s groaning ‘Shotgun’ hugged the Sheeran shoreline; Post Malone’s dumb ‘Rockstar’ dredged the Drakean shallows. Here, ‘Eastside’ still takes its bearings from those two headlands—after all, Benny Blanco co-produced the previous year’s chart-breaking Ed Sheeran’s Divide album—but is a more likeable affair than those dubious peers.
The downbeat vocals are at least sung with light and pleasant voices – yes, even Halsey’s much-commented-on cursive style, which I’ve always found more country-music sincere and less forced or obtrusive than the online snark towards her would suggest. For what it’s worth, Halsey here is singing in block capitals compared to the Sheeran-esque sad-boy swallowed vowels by Khalid. The sparse guitar figure harks all the way back to mid-2014 Euro-trop-pop chart-toppers like ‘Stolen Dance’ and ‘Prayer In C’ but with space to let some genuine feeling percolate. And the video (below) is charming too, as well as memorable for actually giving the perspective of the real-life object-muse of a pop song. ‘Eastside’ itself may not be that memorable, but likeable in the moment is enough: not upper or lower ‘Eastside’, just mid.
A word on Benny Blanco. Before ‘Eastside’ and pop-producer success he was a white rapper, having taken on a Latino stage surname meaning “white”. So, once again we encounter a chart-topping white act who raises the issue of cultural appropriation at the same time as having a stage name that flaunts his whiteness. Being influenced by Ed Sheeran and Drake is one thing, but it’s something else to trail in the wake of Vanilla Ice and Snow.
