Armed with her debut single, Mina explores the never-ending layers of human complexity, especially when it comes to romantic relationships
Like so many other artists, 2020 saw Mina retreat into herself at the request of the pandemic. She now remerges with the fruits of her labour, her debut single Isn’t All I Wanted For.
A blend of electronic production and hip hop influence, Mina’s debut feels at once familiar and distinctive.
With EQ’d strings, a dramatic synth progression and a ghostly vocal, Isn’t All I Wanted For is gripping and seductive.
“Lately, all I want is you,” Mina professes, considering the pleasure that awaits crossing the line.
Filled with multiple melodic moments conducted on almost every instrument layered in the track, Isn’t All I Wanted For sets an unmovable tone and energy.
A new sound is always there to be followed, with Mina’s vocalisations taunting and teasing the listener to follow an unknown path.
Isn’t All I Wanted For bleeds with quality; whether that be in the production, the arrangement or Mina’s vocal performance.
This track feels far from a debut, like a blend of Britney’s Toxic and something pulled from Ariana’s earliest work.
But these comparisons are irrelevant, because Mina is channelling something that we have heard before yet can’t remember where.
The resurrection of a sound fit for the most intimate scenes of a HBO thriller, Mina offers so much despite her restraint.
There’s something hypnotic about this debut, the uneasy melody that coils around itself and the vocalisations that act as a percussive measure to keep our ears perked.
Earthy, transcendent and delicate; Isn’t All I Wanted For signals the beginnings of something full of charm and enticement.
With such an undeniably perfected sound, it is hard not to ache for more of what Mina has stowed away.
Stepping into this track feels like stepping both into the past and the future; the beginning and the climax of something long awaited.
Remembering and anticipating in equal measure, Isn’t All I Wanted For is a dichotomous triumph of sound, and an electrifying debut.
