“Buttercup” (FT. The Ready Set) From Little Hurt

A faint melody shines a blinding light through an ominous bassline as we enter the guts of “Buttercup,” the new single from Little Hurt featuring none other than The Ready Set on guest vocals in the chorus. The dark and threatening vibe of the bass isn’t overwhelming at first; it takes a little time, but slowly we find ourselves trapped in a corner with its unadulterated bottom-end weight, clinging to a smashingly streamlined vocal from Little Hurt for dear life. He pulls us from beneath the rhythmic rubble and brings us towards a spellbinding melodic chorus from The Ready Set, who for all intents and purposes gives a performance in this track that stands above anything I’ve heard out of either of these two artists’ peers in the last few years. The magic is just getting started, but it doesn’t take more than thirty seconds to become hopelessly entranced with this song’s excellently designed harmonies. 

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Both from an instrumental perspective and a lyrical one as well, “Buttercup” assaults us with everything that Little Hurt and The Ready Set have got, and for all the hype about the ongoing minimalist revival that has supposedly overthrown the gluttonous hierarchy of pop and hip-hop’s previous existence, the excessive tonality in this single is actually one of its most attractive and refreshing qualities. I don’t know whether or not Little Hurt intended to do so, but in this song, he essentially breaks away from the pack and establishes himself as a hard-hitting pop singer who doesn’t accept sonic boundaries as well as the bulk of his rivals do. His rebellious attitude is a nice change of pace from what 2022 has had to offer critics so far, to say the least. 

The Ready Set seasons this single with a melodic groove that I think makes it so much more appealing to both pop and even casual R&B fans than it would have been were his stylish pipes not present in the final cut. A lot of critics like to make the argument that collaborations are doing more harm than good within the indie pop community both on the east coast and out west, mostly because of the notion that it demands all involved sacrifice a part of their artistry in favor of compromise, but that just can’t be said of “Buttercup.” Nothing is sacrificed here from either side of the booth, and if anything, Little Hurt and The Ready Set bring out the best in each other and make this single a showstopper with incredible crossover potential. 

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2023 is likely going to be one of the biggest and most successful years for up-and-coming talent to emerge from the underground ahead of a new decade in music, in both pop as well as a litany of other genres, and while it’s only November, there’s no debating that “Buttercup” is already making waves for both Little Hurt and The Ready Set alike. It symbolizes a strain of pop musicians that aren’t playing by anyone’s rules but their own, and they’re making some passionate music in the process of waging their war on the status quo. This pair drop one heck of a hot track in this song, and I’m excited to see them potentially do it again in the future. 

Mindy McCall