Album Cover: Fancy That – PinkPantheress 

PinkPantheress is back from her debut in 2022 with Ice Spice (Boys a Liar Pt2). She brings her latest album Fancy That, and she compresses heartbreak, nostalgia, and clubland chaos into nine tracks all telling such a different story and proving that she’s an artist with big things to come. 

Released on May 9, Fancy That marks a new high-speed era for the British alt-pop star. Clocking in at just 20 minutes, (quite frankly crazy for an album) it’s a mixtape that’s over before you know it, but not before leaving a glittering trail of 2000s references, UK garage beats, and chaotic emotions in its wake. From the jump, it’s so “Britain core”. One moment she’s wearing the Royal Crown, the next she’s jetting “Stateside” and teasing a transatlantic hookup. The record is full of cultural Easter eggs, including a lyric that nods to both Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire”. The tracks take us on a pop nostalgia and post-club introspection; all wrapped in two-minute tracks. 

PinkPantheress pulls heavily from UK club history, borrowing the bounce of 2-step, drum’n’bass, and big beat. “Illegal,” the opening track, samples Underworld’s “Dark & Long (Dark Train)”a wink to “Trainspotting”era rave (Slant Magazine), “Bury Me” features a Basement Jaxx sample, while “Turn It Up” has Panic! at the Disco energy piped through a glitchy UK filter (The FADER). These choices aren’t just clever, they’re foundational to the emotional core of the record.

In her main single of the album Stateside, the track features nods to Kylie Minogue’s Slow. Stateside has the same icy-hot restraint as “Slow” minimal, sensual, and way more suggestive than it lets on. Both songs explore that electric in-between space of wanting, waiting, and holding back, using minimal beats and breathy vocals to dial the emotion up by dialling everything else down. In an interview with “MusicRadar”, she discussed, “The only difference for me between me calling it an album and a mixtape is what I went into thinking it was in a sense how most albums are longer than 20 minutes,” adding that this project gave her the freedom to experiment. That looseness pays off. These are polished tracks, but there’s an unfiltered diary-like urgency to them that gives the vibe of voice notes being sent to your best friend at 3AM. 

Thematically, Fancy That is about the ache of wanting more, but knowing better. It’s all short-lived crushes, second-guessing, and the vulnerability that is something Gen Z can relate to fully. “Feelings”, one of the mixtape’s highlights, pairs frantic beats with vocals that feel almost whispered, as if she’s letting you in on something you shouldn’t hear. 
Critics have praised the mixtape for its range and restraint. The Guardian called it “a collection of sharp-minded bops that hop across pop’s past and present”, while “Resident Advisor” likened her “crate-plundering zeal” to post-rave legends like Fatboy Slim. It truly shows how much the 90s legend influenced her music. 

Ultimately, Fancy That is a flex in minimalism. She is the “IT GIRL” of music releases with only 20 minutes of tracks, PinkPantheress does what many artists try to do in an hour: craft a cohesive, culture-packed soundscape that’s emotional, fun, and on repeat.