Qveen Herby delivers an album of absolute anthems. Forget bangers! The Muse is an album of affirmations that could set a woman’s ego into the stratosphere within the first five minutes. More of this, please!
Getting into the mechanics of the thing is a pleasure in and of itself. The singer-rapper-sorceress has an incredible ear for sonics. Some of the harmonies on this album are keyboard sharp (“Just Found Out,” “Dress Code”), precise in a way that has become less and less common.
With a heavy dose of cheek, where her tongue is firmly planted, The Muse lives up to its title. This is the kind of album that you put on to inspire yourself to move in the world as if it belongs to you. The production choices are perfectly fitted for Herby, her quick wit and bravado calling for precision (“Marie Antoinette,” “Nah”). It's an album that could very easily slide over into parody (or worse, boring attempts at edginess). However, Herby’s honest-to-goodness technicality and the production team’s brilliant ability to balance levity with chest-thumping compositional mastery makes this a masterclass in almost every aspect: production, musicality, vocal inventiveness, nuance, humor-laced complexity and BARS UPON BARS UPON BARS!
Yeah, this is a magical piece of music. Tale as old as time, but it still stings that Qveen Herby isn’t more widely known.