“life honestly sucks.”
Florida based rapper Esther’s bio reads that aloud to her Soundcloud followers. The short, dark bio envelops much of Esther’s style and aesthetic, but not all. The elusive musician does make the emotionally somber music expected from the aesthetic that she conveys, yet she offers much more to her fans. On tracks such as “Maintain,” featuring Bummy Boy, she brings a much more aggressive and high energy tone while staying true to her unique style. Despite the difference between “Maintain” and a much more timid track like “Retrograde,” Esther importantly manages to embrace both tracks as her own. They may sound different from one another, but they are both Esther tracks. After years of creating music, Esther has proven her talent with her incredible vocal capabilities, lyrical versatility and expertise of multiple subgenres.
Esther is not a new rapper by any means, and has been steadily releasing amazing tracks and projects as far back as 2015, when she dropped Lost in Suburbia, a collaboration project with fellow rapper Frander. The nine track project showcases firsthand the depth and detail that Esther can bring to the table. Just two tracks in on “Rightful King” Esther brings her flow and lyrical ability to the forefront. The old school boom bap production perfectly compliments her cold mechanical flow, with references to classic Wu-Tang tracks and the essential braggadocios nature of such lyrical verses.
Just three tracks later on the song “32 pairs” Esther raps in pitched up vocals alongside the drab production and another two tracks later on Islands, Esther raps lines like “No food in my house, and no money on me, so I cook up some bars and then swallow a bean” on the trap influenced beat. The following song “Lost Cause” is by far the most depressing tracks on the project, and an important one in Esther’s discography. The track covers the two rappers feeling like lost causes and worthless, second guessing their ability to create meaning for themselves, both in the music world and in life in general. The eerie, vocal sampled beat accompanying the dreary vocals works perfectly to create the atmospheric mood that the track manages to haunt the listener with, despite being only two minutes long.
Evidently, Esther has proven her incredible versatility, but she also has perfected her own sound and style, by creating ethereal, moody tracks that are perfect to get listeners feeling emotional. On “Igloo” Esther tackles her health and addiction issues, on “Loners Blvd.” Esther allows her powerful vocal capabilities to lead the acoustic sounding track, reflecting on her friendships and relationships, and how they have changed over time. Recently, Esther’s music has been going in a much darker direction, but if she continues to create the beautifully haunting music that she has, this is a welcome change. Overall, despite being relatively small, sonically Esther creates the same high production music as some of the biggest artists today. She has proven through her dedication and work ethic over the years just why she deserves to become an established artist.