Kylie Jenner’s recent collaboration with Terror Jr marks the official launch of her music career. Donning the identity ‘King Kylie’, a nod to her alter ego from 2016, her voice features on the track ‘Fourth Strike’. Harking back to almost 10 years ago, the experimental pop group’s track with the reality TV star is a continuation of an ad campaign for Kylie Cosmetics, where their song ‘Three Strikes’ featured.
Alongside this song release, Kylie Jenner announced that the ‘King Kylie’ collection of cosmetics will launch on October 18th. Bearing that in mind, Terror Jr, an American pop duo formed in 2016, started the group as a ‘social experiment’. So how far is this break into music a massive PR stunt?
Can celebrities easily cross into music success just down to the gravitas of their name? The general consensus on social media is that Kylie’s feature is overpowered by autotune, as well as heavy criticism of the uninspiring lyricism: “One strike, two strike, let me get the mood right / I just wanna tell you, ‘I’m sorry’ / Touch me, baby, tell me I’m your baby / Write your name all over my body / Cross the line, I might do it again (Oh) / Do it on purpose just to see how it ends.” The Keeping up with the Kardashians’ star ends her verse by whispering, “King Kylie”, sealing the deal for me that this is merely advertisement for her brand. But should celebrities stick with what they’re good at instead of vying to make more money and gain larger exposure?
Regardless of your personal opinion on Kylie Jenner, she has gained huge traction about her music release, with opinions split: some siding with a celebration of the nostalgic 2016 trends and music, vs others arguing the tacky and unsuccessful attempt to stay relevant. This attempt by celebrities to vie for relevance via musical endeavours has been seen before, even by Jenner’s sister, Kim Kardashian. In 2011, Kim Kardashian released ‘Jam (Turn It Up)’ and received huge criticism.
Jim Farber, writing for the Daily News, called the song a “dead-brained piece of generic dance music, without a single distinguishing feature,”. Comparing this to Kylie’s song ‘Fourth Strike’, I’m inclined to echo the same criticism. Addison Rae’s transition into music has been met with mixed reviews, but perhaps a more positive reception.
Rae’s debut single ‘Obsessed’, to me is undeniably ultra-processed, sounding hugely generic and was panned by critics. However, her recent single ‘Diet Pepsi’, was well-received and has over 500 million streams on Spotify. There is proof that the transition can be done well, but I’m inclined to describe Kylie Jenner’s music venture, as a flop.
Yet if this venture was all for publicity, I can’t deny that it has worked. Here I am contributing to her publicity as I write this piece. So, can ‘Fourth Strike’ be deemed as a music flop or a clever PR stunt?
Up to you to decide your opinion, but I know where I stand.