“Seeds” from daFinchi (feat. Janay Saxon)

Surreal melodicism has been found at the heart of almost every hot track in pop, hip-hop, and beyond in 2021, and it’s what ties the new single “Seeds” from daFinchi with so many of the top-tier cuts out this late summer season. Featuring an enrapturing vocal harmony from Janay Saxon, “Seeds” is a profoundly postmodern listen when it wants to be, beholden to much of the gilded melodic trappings we expect out of the burgeoning post-chamber pop movement, but alas, its real soul lies on the hip-hop end of the spectrum. daFinchi came to conquer in this piece, and to me, his ambitions are what ultimately win the race here. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dafinchii/

Saxon’s vocal is essential to making the mood what it is in “Seeds,” and I think that because of how well-mixed the track is, we’re able to experience her lush contribution to the harmony with as close a seat as we are any of the rapping daFinchi is breaking off at the top of the mix. Their chemistry is straight fire, and in the music video for the song, it’s all the more obvious that their creative intuitions are very much a part of the same model at the end of the day. 

daFinchi’s vocal delivery is a lot more hesitant here than it was in his debut single, “The Burbs,” but this doesn’t translate as a regressive performance at all, primarily because he’s using tempo to define much of his emotional presence in this track. It’s easy enough to rattle off some lyrics against a smart hook and call it contemporary hip-hop, but to weaponize everything from the groove to the manner in which you’re adjoining words and music together is to get to a higher level of expressiveness that unfortunately few in any genre of music can reach in the mainstream. 

The music video for “Seeds” feels a lot bigger than its source material, but the juxtaposition of its glossy imagery and the straightforward execution from both daFinchi and Janay Saxon definitely presents us with something audiophiles and casual viewers are certain to pick up on the same. Through this contrast, we get a glimpse into the ambitions these two are shouldering while also getting a good idea about what they’re really trying to say in this release – it’s swaggering, it’s sensuous, and at times it’s brooding to the extent of feeling more emotional than the lyrics would ever let on. 

Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/dafinchi/seeds-feat-janay-saxon-single-explicit/seeds-feat-janay-saxon/TR5P4f6t7kPjlZg

“Seeds” definitely sports some throwback vibes in spots, but daFinchi remains a modern rapper who I think more people need to be watching and following online at the moment. He comes in hot n’ heavy here and only gets stronger as Saxon piles on some potent melodicism on the hook, and with the proper exposure on the college radio front, I have a good feeling we’re going to be seeing and hearing a lot more from both of these players in the very near future. After all, talent like theirs doesn’t come around every day in this industry (or any other, truth be told). 

Mindy McCall