For all of the esoteric mythos and technofeudalist world-building that 2hollis and his legion of devotees constructed round his music, the Los Angeles-based rapper, not-rapper, and producer’s 2024 file, boy, felt extra like a cult coming-of-age traditional than a futuristic Lord of the Rings spin-off. Launched within the weeks main as much as his breakthrough stint opening on Ken Carson’s Chaos Tour, boy peeled again the palimpsest to emphasise the honest teenage sentimentality on the core of Hollis’ work. He cooed about awkward crushes and devastating breakups over effervescent, sugary EDM, producing a unusually tender emotional dissonance that resonated with zoomers who grew up mainlining Entice Nation uploads. Most significantly, although, the album was peppered with sufficient pulverizing low finish to win over the mosh-happy Opium followers who’d turned out in droves for Ken’s tour. Along with his standing as an web rap luminary cemented, 2hollis returns to the mythmaking of his earlier discography with a brand new album, star. As its title suggests, the brand new LP explores the highs and lows of being an object of hero worship, backed by festival-ready beats that bang like post-millennial supernovae.
“You preach, I’ll beam, they educate,” Hollis bellows on “Destroy Me,” a sweaty electro-pop exercise wedged in star’s heart part. He’s nonetheless writing love songs, however slightly than enjoying the key admirer, he’s assumed the position of reluctant cult chief. Free to bask in his hedonistic impulses, this new Hollis is wired, paranoid, and flaming out in tragic—but ecstatic—vogue. “Inform Me,” a name-searcher’s lament, weighs contradicting wishes to be adored and ignored as layers of plucky, pugnacious bass generate rigidity. The thematic battle stays unresolved, leaving Hollis “sick and awake” with visions of a crowd wanting up at him in a contemporary, melancholy twist on the standard EDM construct/drop construction. As misty synth pads seep in like fog machines and a mechanical kick begins to stomp, concern provides technique to cathartic awe.
Like 2 and boy earlier than it, star goals nearer to pure dance-pop than Hollis’ latest singles counsel. Other than the interlude-length “sidekick,” there’s little in the best way of the skittering rage fusion of “trauma” or the glitchy swag-rap pastiche of “model” right here. On the identical time, this new batch of floor-fillers additionally reins within the glittery electroclash maximalism of earlier full-lengths. Cleaner textures and leaner preparations win out on star, which prioritizes throbbing low finish over hovering melody: The primary half of “flash” is comprised of little greater than a chunky bassline and drums, placing larger emphasis on Hollis’ vocals. With out an armor of witch home distortion or future bass opulence, he sounds fantastically weak, mild echo on his voice as he sings from the angle of the “Holli” he may be when the cameras aren’t in his face. Because the monitor progresses, a easy chiptune arpeggio injects a pressure of self-assuredness. For the remaining runtime, Hollis takes cues from a traditional PC Music single, Life Sim’s “IDL,” by subjecting a single synth arp to a collection of mad science experiments to see how its aura modifications. The looped bloops drag the monitor into new keys, ramp up the tempo, and ultimately spill uncontrolled as they’re crushed beneath a flurry of hardstyle kicks. The impact is exhilarating, as if we’re bearing witness to a magical girl-style transformation sequence from boy into star.