Almost 2 years ago, Illinois native Lil Hawk Boy stepped into the underground spotlight with the release of melancholic and glossy tracks like “You,” while his subsequent emo boy! EP emitted mainstream potential.
Since then, Lil Hawk Boy has been remarkably consistent and experimenting more and more with his own production. His new dont look back EP is no different, and it is definitely something to look back on. The incredibly catchy lyrics and magnetic production throughout this project inevitably lead to the replay button being broken. The 5 songs on the project range from gaudy trap to an unexpected acoustic ballad and they definitely leave the listener hungry for more.
The opening title track “don’t look back” starts off with the most vibrant and memorable trap song from the project. Lil Hawk Boy doesn’t hold back as he delivers verses full of energy and personality. Indeed, the self-produced instrumental merges with the catchy hook into a rather hypnotic dance while Lil Hawk Boy confidently shoots line after line.
The following song “years from here” is produced by Al Sweats and it manages to incorporate the same addictive vibes as before while delving into a much moodier trap sound. Although in the opening track we see Lil Hawk Boy flaunting the fact that the past is behind him, here we see him looking ahead into the bright future. However, it can also be noticed through the lyrics that the artist woefully reflects on a current relationship:
Tell me why we talk
I know I shouldn’t even bother
Baby it’s too much
I know I can’t be your lover
The atmosphere gets even gloomier with the next song “meaning,” where a guitar is introduced for the first time in the project in order to set the mood for what comes next. Lil Hawk Boy presents us with a broken-hearted piece of art with some of the more existentially morbid lyrics on this project. It seems as if the EP started off high up in the clouds and the artist led us into this downward spiral journey to the core of the issue. The title of the project may as well be an advice Lil Hawk Boy seeks to give himself as he ends up looking back on the moments which put him in this sorrowful state.
We can definitely feel the artist’s pain on the fourth song “dante’s inferno”, an acoustic ballad which breaks the smooth flow of tracks in a tasteful way. It’s undoubtedly the emotional highlight of this project as Lil Hawk Boy directly addresses a painful end of a relationship. The track is quite short but it features the most heartbreaking lyrics on this EP, finishing off with the following piercing lines:
You said I was gifted
But you never really meant it
The closing song is the sole single from this project named “substance.” Lil Hawk Boy has been emotionally exhausted by this point of the journey, as evidenced by this beautifully bleak lo-fi tune. The track manages to fuse the catchiness of the first leg of the EP and the sorrowful heart-breaking story of the second. The picture is now clear and yet it leaves you wondering what is going to happen next.
Lil Hawk Boy definitely doesn’t disappoint with this one. It is refreshing to see a conceptual project by the artist and his sound is certainly as clean and coherent as it can possibly be. Hopefully we see Lil Hawk Boy getting into even more unknown territory in the future. In the meantime, feel free to give the EP a listen: