Reviews
MARLENA MINNECI Just Vibez
From Crossville, Tennessee’s, Stone Memorial High School softball diamond to the art-student life at Middle Tennessee State University, alternative R&B/hip-hop singer-songwriter-rapper Marlena Minneci localizes the style of America’s “billion-play” streaming solo female artists (Grande, Minaj, O-Rod) with a grounded lyricism on her debut EP, Just Vibez, written through the modern emotional observations of a young Middle Tennessean taking stock of her life. B.B.O. Records released Just Vibez in 2021, with Marlena Minneci composing the music and lyrics, Shamira Hawkins engineering, Trent Waters mixing and beats by Born Hero, Denz Beats and Young Socrates. Minneci presents herself as a triple threat for Just Vibez, in similar fashion to Mary J. Blige’s 1992 debut What’s the 411?, covering a vocal range and intensity level from a crisp, high, songbird register to the lower, smokier deliveries heard in Billie Eilish’s throaty young jazz singer style. Of course, the third threat factor being Minneci’s tight and neat pen-tap rap, matching Born Hero’s drum machine tempo, showing off Minneci’s variety of these vocal styling combinations. Minneci softly croons a reminder to live in the moment on “The Last Time,” as life is ephemeral. She recounts memories of friends and family left behind while losing herself in growing up. A drowsy, three-string-picked descending bass line guides Minneci’s croon as the drum machine speeds into uptempo, allowing Minneci to lay down quick-spit
ALBUM punch rhymes about starting over, lost and uncertain. There’s a possibility she’s just sitting on the couch, waiting for someone, though. I can’t see through the door . . . I wonder if you’ll come home. The vocalist emphasizes the “soul” part of her chosen blend of hip-hop/soul/ alternative/R&B in “Better by Myself,” but lyrically the track stands as the EP’s “My man is ‘a demon, a monster’” kind of song (a given topic for all hip-hop/soul/ alternative/R&B artists) composed with down-tempo, picked major chords, drum machine accompaniment and out-front vocals. It’s safe to say whomever was supposed to be coming home that night didn’t show. Minneci’s observations continue in “Subconsciously,” proclaiming being over this whole EP, until Minecci flips it with the lines Nobody cares, they just want the fame, and music’s not the same as it was before. That slyly creates the context that turns Minneci’s musical disinterest during an obligatory school project into an astute social commentary, as well as validates the conversation she’s recorded having with her father as the song’s intro, saying, “It’s about how music, I think, is really shallow today and everybody just cares about cash versus the art.” Colton Tincher supplies the lone, deftly strummed palm-muted acoustic guitar for this one—no drum machine, as Minneci’s in her Eilish jazz voice on this pop-folk track. Minneci’s father makes another appearance in the bonus track at the end of the EP, a personal, 15-minute recording of Marlena talking about life, her music, her schooling, and new autonomy with her hero: her Dad. He’s out there on the porch with her, sharing paternal guidance, understanding and, as all great fathers do, his ears. And, if “The Waitress Rap” doesn’t make it into at least a short film produced at MTSU by some of Minneci’s peers, this whole EP’s brilliance—be it simply finding one’s self growing with new experiences— is a waste; Minneci goes to town flowing about a waitress job she works, becoming a waitresses’ waitress the way people refer to Dylan as “a songwriter’s songwriter,” but in a jovial, Digital Underground Humpty rap run. It’s streaming on her Bandcamp page right now; go listen. Find links to Marlena Minneci’s Just Vibez record on other streaming platforms at linktr.ee/marlenaminneci. — BRYCE HARMON
A CLASSIC
18 * APRIL 2022 * BOROPULSE.COM
OUTSTANDING
MOVIE
CODA DIRECTORS Siân Heder STARRING Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur RATED PG-13
A remake of a French film, CODA was given the award for Best Picture at the 2022 Academy Awards, surely the only memorable thing to happen during the ceremony. Jabs aside, the word “coda” can refer to the ending or final segment of a piece of music. It can also be an acronym for “child of deaf adults,” which makes CODA the perfect title for this heartwarming, feel-good and formulaic film about the only hearing daughter in a deaf family who discovers a love of singing. The Rossis are a deaf fishing family made up of Frank and Jackie (Kotsur and Matlin) and their son Leo (Daniel Durant). The youngest is their 17-year-old-daughter Ruby (Jones), the only member of the family born with hearing. The film opens with Frank, Leo and Ruby on their fishing boat early in the morning, with Ruby singing along to Etta James’ “Something’s Got a Hold on Me.” At the docks, Ruby acts as interpreter for her father and brother to sell their catch at a fair price. Then, stinking of fish, Ruby goes to school where she is made fun of for her smell and for having deaf parents. When she sees the boy she likes signing up for choir, she impulsively signs up too, even though she’s never sung in front of other hearing people before. The story is beat-for-beat coming-ofage boilerplate, made only slightly new in AVERAGE
that it revolves around a deaf family, an underrepresented group that gets a chance at some humanizing representation here, while also still being kept down by a narrative told for a hearing perspective. CODA is Ruby’s story, and while it is great that her parents and brother are all played by deaf actors (Kotsur won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his endearing portrayal), the film still struggles with the conflict inherent in being a movie about deafness and a movie about singing. Because ultimately, CODA isn’t a movie for deaf people so much as a movie for hearing people to feel inspired. For much of the movie, Ruby’s embarrassed by her family and sick of their reliance on her (a gross misrepresentation of the independence of deaf people to be sure), and the film never truly confronts her feelings towards them, putting the onus of acceptance and growth on the family, not her, often treating their deafness as a burden that must be overcome. It’s drama for drama’s sake, so it rings untrue, but it’s also potentially harmful. Does that mean I didn’t choke up a couple times during the film’s coda? Of course I did, even as someone who has come to realize they hate singing movies. (Seriously, Ruby listens to Etta James, The Clash, Marvin Gaye, and The Shaggs, of all bands, yet she and everyone in the film sings like Christina Aguilera performing the national anthem?) Because for all its clichés and for all it doesn’t get right about being deaf, CODA is a very well-made, well-acted and effective version of a very standard teen drama. But, Best Picture . . . ? CODA is streaming on Apple TV+. — JAY SPIGHT
BELOW AVERAGE
AVOID AT ALL COSTS
