Kinga’s “Something’s Gotta Give” (SINGLE)

The last few years have been unpredictable on virtually every front, from politics to pandemics and everything in between, but the arts have always kept society moving at some pace or another. Music specifically has responded much as it always does – with a soundtrack worthy of the moment – and among those to deliver exceptional contributions to this period of dance-pop history is none other than Kinga, whose new single is already getting people well outside of his classic fan base interested in the narrative. In 2023, he isn’t letting the momentum behind his career go to waste, and he’s rightly kicking off the mid-spring season with a new single in “Something’s Gotta Give” that, as its name would imply, comes in response to an irony-laden culture desperate for some aching grooves only a player like this one can deliver.

URL: https://kingamuzik.com/

“Something’s Gotta Give” boasts a new wave feel thanks to its deliberate intensity at over 130 BPM, but I would say it’s a lot more cathartic than it is explosive in the traditional dance-pop sense. There’s absolutely a heady rock influence on the structure of the beat, but scarcely is there a moment in which the melody is overshadowed by the presence of the percussion. Frankly, I think the drum part here could have used just a touch more volume behind the board, but I can also understand what Kinga was thinking in giving it more of a limited role beside the bassline. It leaves the synth a little more room to breathe, and in a track like this one, that’s potentially the biggest club component worth preserving.

The vocal is rather understated for how much moxy the lyrical content is when we separate it from the instrumentation in the song, and yet I feel like the contrast this creates is entirely intentional on the part of Kinga. His previous works have all had a serious textural expressiveness, and while this is slightly less invasive from a mixing point of view, he’s using the juxtaposition implied by the vocal’s treatment of the verses to essentially garner the same effect. It’s a roundabout way of establishing a unique identity for yourself inside of the recording studio, but as of this moment, I don’t think there’s been anything in Kinga’s career to convince him that this isn’t a smart move. After all, if it’s yielding solid results on his end, that’s all that matters creatively.

If you’re looking for a crossover dance-pop single to start the summer of 2023 with, I think that Kinga’s “Something’s Gotta Give” is a good pick regardless of how you feel about the music culture of the underground at this point. This is a terrific reflection of the moment, and more importantly, the way that the masses have begun embracing it, and though I think Kinga still has a lot of work ahead of him in his campaign to stay in the international spotlight, there’s no denying that what he offers us in this latest release is an awesome stepping stone bringing him all the closer to his professional goals.

Mark Druery