Coincidences of life: the same day that Kesha and Dr Luke seem to have reached an out-of-court agreement of which only the joint statement has emerged, the “debut” of Peter Kim, who has been one of Gottwald’s main defenders, and of course has chosen him as one of the main producers of this record. He is not the only one, yes: in this album there are about twenty producers involved, starting with some with whom Petras has already worked in the past (Billboard, Cirkut, ILYA, Omar Fedi, Aaron Joseph, Ryan OG, Vaughn Oliver or Rocco Did It Again!), and continuing with new collaborators such as Rami (former right-hand man of Max Martin), Ian Kirkpatric (behind “New Rules” and “Bad Liar”, without going any further), Fat Max Gus (collaborator of Maisie Peters or Bree Runway), Heavy Mellow (Halsey, Jack Harlow), Isaiah Tejada (Bebe Rexha), Jasper Harris (Juice WRLD, DaBaby), Jimmy Napes (Sam Smith, Clean Bandit), Ojivolta (Lil Nas X, Kanye West ) or The Monsters & Strangerz (Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello).
But not even with this mammoth collection of names can Peter Kim give a negative answer to the question “can a debut album be tremendously inferior to all the EP’s that have preceded it?”. The German proves yes: “Feed The Beast” It’s a debut album (it’s really rare to call it a debut, it happens as with the imminent “debut” of Bad Gyal) quite forgettable, wherever “Clarity”, “TURN OFF THE LIGHT” o “Slut Pop”, without being perfect, they were hilarious, risky and with great songs. It may have to do with the previous leak “problematic”, Or maybe the reason is more related to the success of “Unholy”although it seems contradictory.
“Unholy” it gave Sam Smith a success he hadn’t enjoyed since his first two albums (almost since the first), but for Petras it was even more important, being his only mainstream megahit to date. With which “Feed The Beast” It could be a bit of an “all or nothing” bet… but for that it would have to have a risk that, to be honest, the project lacks. In his effort to mainstream Peter Kim, it turns out to be a rather random album that –with some exceptions– could be hers, Ava Max’s or Bebe Rexha’s. The promising start with “Feed The Beast” immediately fades away, and only some like “Hit It From The Back”, “Revelations” o “Minute” stand out on a tracklist that is not very reminiscent of the Peter Kim that caught our attention.
The rest are songs like “Castle In The Sky”, eurodance both effective and insulso, “King Of Hearts”who takes this and “I Love It” from Icona Pop to apply the meme that of “everyone does their part at home and then we put it together”, the Eurovisiva (for worse) “Claws”, the wasted opportunity to collaborate with Banks on the forgettable “BAIT” or the –in this case– opportunistic “Alone”, that neither with Nicki Minaj nor with Alice Deejay’s classic takes flight. “Everything I drop is a banger”, he says later in the machacona “uhoh”, to which you want to answer “yes, well, lower it a bit”. The trap to put here “Coconuts” (from 2021) and “Unholy” (which is from Sam Smith) has his thing too.
Definitely, Peter Kim He “debuts” offering his worst work to date, in which it is hard to see the talent that he certainly has, and that we have seen on topics such as “Do Me”, “There Will Be Blood”, “Boo! Bitch!”, “Heart To Break” o “Treat Me Like A Slut”. In front of them, “Feed The Beast” commitment to a collection where the only “advantage” is to be much more radio friendly. But perhaps you forgot that both things do not have to be at odds.