“Can’t tell my mood, got a mask in the photos.”
That’s just one enjoyable bar in the first MuddyMya song off her 5-track EP Mudbath. The project arrives at an interesting time as music feels more malleable than ever. Her mask has grown synonymous with her music. The song’s beat, produced by CaptainCrunch and mixed by RobOlu, sounds like it could soundtrack a sinister game of hop-scotch. MuddyMya’s verse is lively, and the repeated hook finds our hero showing off her flair for melody and knack for songwriting.
Produced by an individual who was unavailable for comment and mixed by RobOlu, the energy is two-fold on the subsequent song “GYSM”. MuddyMya’s flow is unbroken, strung together like building blocks. Listening to MuddyMya rap on this song is like watching the world’s fastest Tetris game. “School of finesse / That’s my alma mater.” I can’t speak to MuddyMya’s intent, but her ad-libs in the back come off as half homage to Jeezy’s “Okay!” and “What?” and half homage to the sound Mortal Kombat and Dragon Ball Z characters made when they dueled with one another.
Things really pick up on the third track “PINK,” produced by Rese Money and mixed by RobOlu. MuddyMya’s vocals settle down for a moment. There’s a pretty voice under all that rapping. Over the relatively brighter production, MuddyMya plays the girl boss, running a whole business, making things happen with a flick of her wrist. 38 seconds into the song, her voice reaches its highest pitch project-wise. “I just need my life to change. What’s wrong with wanting finer things?”
On the 4th track, “NOTHING” produced by Filip and mixed by Michael Hayibor, she plays the to-be ex-girlfriend. I can hear this one being a popular one amongst listeners. She’s impressed me lyrically so far, what with her emphasis on being around her friends. However, in this song, she shows a different, deeper side to her writing. “I came with all my problems / I expected you to fix it / It got too deep / It got too deep / Like way too quick / I found out I’m your drug / And I know you need a fix.” She goes on to reflect on her dying relationship with the bar “You gotta play the good guy and with me you risk exposure / Ain’t no casualties in love and war when you’re the only soldier.”At 1:16, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The delivery is tasteful, and she’s really singing here. When she switches it back up to rap even harder in an aggressive inflection at 1:46, I’m already looking forward to when I can listen to the song again.
On the outro, “ALONE”, produced by Anthony Dluxe and mixed by Stereo, the drums kick in something vicious. She’s singing and thinking again. “That’s why I need to be alone / I don’t got time for no friends / I only got time to make ends.” MuddyMya’s already expressed her confidence from being around her friends in “GYSM” with the bar “I’m with the gang so I’m not getting touched”. But, plot-wise, she just made the difficult decision to break up with her man, and it makes perfect and total sense that MuddyMya just needs some space right now. “I’m trying to buy my mama a new Benz / Get her a house with some land and some hens / Tell her she can save the chickens just for me.”
The project, a 5-track EP by the name of Mudbath, tells the story of a young, confident woman navigating the tumultuous turn of a new decade through her grappling with the goings-on in her own world. MuddyMya is a promising up and coming recording artist out of the city. Her visual aesthetic screams emo, punk, and rock, but she can really rap, and she can sing, too. The mask is a nice touch.
Prior to its commercial release, the private Soundcloud link to her project was tagged under “#Alternative Rock.” She moves in and out of genres like a professional, tag-teaming the side of her that’s more into rapping and then running back over to tag in the side of her that’s into singing. Sometimes she’ll blend both into her own MuddaMya-specific delivery.
Her project is not only speaking to the city of Atlanta’s artistic faith in a woman but the world’s. The underlying story here is how Atlanta protects and nurtures its creatives. MuddyMya’s been bolstered by well-known members of the creative community in music’s trendiest city. Now, she’s being placed in a position to win by those same figures.
However, as the saying goes, they can only take her to the river. They can’t make her drink it, build a well, or swim to where she needs to get to. If you ask me, they shouldn’t bother worrying. It looks like she’ll take it from here.
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