24kGoldn ft. Iann Dior – ‘Mood’

18 September 2020

I’m not greatly into this track’s proximity to the tired and sexist trope of a woman being grumpy or irritable; I feel we’re just around the corner from a quip about the time of the month. In fairness to those involved, the lyrics here don’t go that far. That reticence of mine aside, ‘Mood’ is a likeable track.

Something of the early-’20s mini-renaissance in chart pop is a willingness to experiment and chop up sounds, compared to the neverending freight train of dreary late-’10s trop-house. So, ‘Mood’ has a grinding guitar riff, an R&B-pop urgency in the chorus, and especially a hint of soulful ache and sadness in the fine pre-chorus (“We play games of love to avoid the depression”) that gives it a lot more colour and character than most R&B-pop hits, even if 24KGoldn (whose real given name is indeed Golden) and Iann Dior sound similar enough. As mood music, ‘Mood’ is a pick-me-up.